MYSTICISM  AND 
MODERN  LIFE 


BY 

JOHN  WRIGHT  BUCKHAM 

Professob  of  Christian  Theoloqy  in  Pacific  Theoloqical  Seminary 

Author  of  Christ  and  the  Eternal  Order,  Personality  and  the 

Christian  Ideal,  etc. 


THE    ABINGDON    PRESS 

NEW  YOKK  CINCINNATI 


X)N  ^OC>\ 


Coypright,  1915,  by 
JOHN  WRIGHT  BUCKHAM 


To  H.  W.  B. 

In  Grateful  Recognition 
of  Twenty-five  Years  of 
Mystical      Comradeship 


"On  all  that  my  hand  does 
Thy  hand  is  laid" 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface        ---_---? 
Introduction:  What  IS  Mysticism?         -  13 

PART  I 
NEW  FORMS  OF  MYSTICISM 

CHAPTER 

I    The  Mystic  Way  and  its  Modern 

Equivalents        -        -        -  -      29 

II    Health  Mysticism          -        _        .  56 

III    Cosmic  Mysticism       -        -        -  -      73 

PART  II 
TESTS  OF  MYSTICISM 

IV    Defects  and  Limitations  of  Mysti- 
cism              97 

V    Mysticism  and  Rationality  -        -  118 

VI    Mysticism  and  Psychology        -        -  133 

VII    Normal  Mysticism         _        _        -  149 

PART  III 
VALUES  OF  MYSTICISM 

VIII    Lessons  from  the  Mystics         -        -     171 
IX    The  Treasury  of  Christian  Mystical 

Literature  -        -        -        -     194 

X    Mysticism  and  the  Modern  Church      209 

XI    Mysticism  and  Modern  Society        -    232 

Index 251 


PREFACE 

Does  religious  conviction  spring  from  the 
rationalizing  faculty  or  the  intuitive  faculty, 
from  the  "freezing  reason's  colder  part"  or 
the  "warmth  within  the  breast"?  Does  it  rest 
upon  logic  or  faith? 

This  is  an  issue  upon  which  the  recent  study 
of  mysticism  throws  much  light.  Nor  is  it 
aiding  us  in  this  respect  alone.  It  promises 
much  help  in  untwisting  the  tangle  of  modern 
life  and  in  affording  a  clue  to  its  true  value  and 
use. 

Many  readers  will  take  up — or  perhaps  let 
lie — a  book  entitled  Mysticism  with  a  not 
wholly  unjustified  prejudice.  The  phrase  "reli- 
gious experience"  would  be  far  preferable  for 
a  volume  like  this  to  the  much-misunderstood 
and  much-abused  word  "mysticism,"  were  it 
not  that  the  latter  indicates  the  faith  of  a 
historic  succession  of  men  and  women  who 
have  been  the  exponents  and  defenders  of 
religious  experience  of  an  intense  and  significant 
type.  _  While  I  shall  endeavor  to  show  that 
eyer^^  f^ne  ^^o  h^^  an  immediate  religious 
jexperience  of  his  own  is  to  that  extent  a  mystic 

and  belongs  to  the  mystic  fellowship,  still  I 

> — ^ ,. — 


8  PREFACE 

agree  with  T\Titers  upon  mysticism  that  there  is 
a  chosen  company  whom  we  may  well  call  "the 
mystics"  who  have  attained  to  such  heights  of 
rehgious  experience  as  to  serve  in  a  peculiar 
way  as  its  exponents — ^the  great  adventurers  in 
the  spirit  realm.  Their  experience,  while  normal 
for  them,  is  not  the  norm  for  all. 

It  is  the  aim  of  the  writer  in  the  first  place 
to  point  out  the  presence  of  mysticism  in 
modern  life  and  thought,  and  then  to  assist, 
as  far  as  he  may,  in  the  much-needed  task  of 

gvft^2£fjJ^P  nnrTnal^Frrm^    flip  ^hnnrmi^   TnTyr^rg- 

ticisin^.,_Qt^  clarifying  .  the    distinction    which 

Professor    Rauschenbusch    has    succinctly  put 

in  a  letter  to  the  writer,   "between  the  open- 

^yed  kind  and  the  shut-eyed  kind,  the  kind 

that  makes  a  man  realize  his  fellows  and  nature 

I  more  keenly,  and  the  kind  that  makes  him  lose 

/   consciousness  of  them  and  interest  in  them;  the 

I    kind  that  makes  human  nature  more  complete 

I     and  normal,  and  the  kind  that  introduces  ab- 

\^  normal  and  wild-eyed  qualities." 

y       Whatever  tends   to   make  religion   esoteric, 

I  ji  incomprehensible,  over-refined,  an  affair  of  the 

|\  I  elect  and  not  of  humanity  as  a  whole,  is  mis- 

^  leading  and  fatal.     It  defeats  religion  in  the 

■   name  of  religion.     It  is  a  common  impression 

that  mysticism  is  such.     On  the  contrary — as  I 

trust  this  volume  will  help  to  show — mysticism 


I  PREFACE  9 

in  its  normal  form  is  not  an  inscrutable,  exclu-  C^  \^  , 
sive    religious   cultus, ^but   the   gift,   in   some,       .* 
form,  of  everyone  who  will  cultivate  his  capac:^  " 

^ty  for  it.  ^^^^ 

^   The  task,  for  the  author,  relates  itself  very 
cIoseTy""to~one  in  which  he  has  been  for  some 
ntimeengagecl  and  to  which  his  previous  volumes 
V^kave  been  devoted — the  study  of  the  nature  of 
— Tersonality.     In  pursuing  such  a  study  it  is" 
impossible  to  pass  by  the  mystics  with  their 
rich  contribution  to  the  meaning  of  this  most 
fundamental  of  realities. 

The  gentle  reader  who  does  not  care  for  the 
critical    discussion    of    mysticism    may    omit 
Part  II.     The  author  deems  this,  however,  to 
be  a  very  essential  part  of  the  volume.     "One^ 
does  not  like  to  be  a  fool,  even  a  blessed  fool," 
as  a  neighbor  of  mine  remarks.     Without  a  \     ^  ->./- 
philosophy    to  Justify    him    the    mystic    can  j        /    , 
hardly  escape  this  suspicion. 

In  briefly  acknowledging  obligations  I  cannot 
do  less  than  begin  with  the  great  mystics 
themselves,  to  whom  I  owe  more  than  I  can 
express  for  the  generosity  and  confidence  with 
which  they  have  shared  with  me — as  with  all 
who  will  Usten — the  secret  of  their  inner  experi- 
ence. To  the  writers  upon  mysticism  also  I 
am  greatly  indebted,  as  the  following  pages 
will  show.     Professor  Rauschenbusch  and  Dr. 


10  PEEFACE 

George  A.  Gordon  have  clarified  and  furthered 
my  task  with  suggestion  and  cheer.  To  my 
colleagues,  President  C.  S.  Nash  and  Professor 
W.  F.  Bade,  hearty  thanks  are  extended  for 
encouragement  and  aid;  also  to  my  wife  and 
to  Mrs.  George  DeWitt  Castor,  Miss  Olive 
Brownsill,  who  in  the  last  months  of  a  fatal 
illness  gave  freely  of  her  ^e  insight  and 
sympathy  to  these  chapters,  and  Miss  Bertha 
M.  Buckham.  The  editors  of  The  Homiletic 
Review,  Dr.  Robert  Scott  and  Professor  George 
W.  Gilmore,  have  extended  greatly  appreciated 
assistance.  The  latter  has  read  the  manuscript 
and  has  made  many  valued  suggestions. 

Acknowledgments  are  made  with  thanks  to 
^J  The  Hpmil^ti^  Re^riew  for  the  use  of  the  chap- 
'Ter  dealing  with  "Christian  Mystical  Litera- 
ture"; to  the  Christian  Intelligencer  for  the  use 
of  parts  of  the  chapters  "Lessons  from  the 
Mystics"  and  "The  Mystic  Way";  and  to  the 
New  York  Christian  Advocate  for  the  use  of  a 
part  of  the  chapter  "Mysticism  and  the 
Church." 

The  needless  repetition  of  quotation  marks 
in  the  case  of  longer  extracts  has  been  avoided. 
All  indented  paragraphs  in  smaller  type  should 
be  understood  as  quotations. 

Finally,  in  accord  with  the  word  of  Plato  in 
the  Timseus,     "All   men,  Socrates,  who   have 


PREFACE  11 

any  degree  of  right  feeling,  at  the  beginning  of 
every  enterprise,  whether  small  or  great,  always 
call  upon  God,"  the  author  would  commit  to 
the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth  this  essay 
to  honor  and  extend  his  gracious  power  in 
human  hearts. 

John  Wright  Buckham. 
Pacific  Theological  Seminary, 
Berkeley,  California. 


INTRODUCTION 
WHAT  IS  MYSTICISM? 

Whoever  reflects  upon  himself,  his  fellows 
and  the  world  confronts  Mystery,  primal  and 
perpetual.  In  the  beginning  was  Mystery — at 
once  a  challenge  and  a  promise.  We  know  but 
in  part.  Yet  ignorance  and  mystery  are  not 
the  same.  "The  former  means  T  know  not,'  U 
the  latter  means  T  know  not  but  it  is  known.'  "*  /^ 

As  knowledge  widens.  Mystery  deepens.  The 
old  mysteries  disappear,  but  new  ones  take  their 
places.  Instead  of  vanishing,  mystery  becomes 
vaster,  more  inclusive,  more  pervasiye|  Tetit 
loses  its  chill  and  gloom  and  lightens,  like  the 
mist  upon  the  mountain  top,  as  the  sun  rises 
higher.  The  winds  rend  it,  the  sunlight  pierces 
it.  It  grows  prescient  and  purposeful.  The  \V  V  A 
certainty  of  a  vast  encompassing  Reality  makes 
itself  felt. 

I 

Mystery  is  the  matrix  of  revelation:    In  the 
beginning   was   the    Word.     Without   myst^y,    / 
revelation  would  lack  motive,  occasion,  settmg.  / 
WitEouTTe  V  ela  liuii ,  ^ny steTy~  wt>uld  be  mean-  ; 

1  W.  E.  Hocking:   The  Meaning  of  God  in  Human  Experience,  p.  236. 
13 


14  INTRODUCTION 


m 


V 


ingless,  insoluble,  blighting.  The  two  involve 
pother. 

As  mystery  is  not  synonymous  with  igno- 
rance, so  mysticism  is  not  synonymous  with 
mystery.  Mysticism  is  the  certainty  that  ^[rows 
up  in  the  presence  of  mysten/.  It  is  religion 
resting  upon  inner  experience — the  obverse 
side  of  mystery. 

Mystery — the  Word.  From  this  antithesis 
emerges  mysticism, — the  most  characteristic, 
r-'^\AJ»^rsistent,  and  universal  f orm "ofreligion. '"" 

II 

It  may  be  well  at  the  outset,  in  order  to 
forestall  misunderstanding  and  clear  away,  as 
far  as  possible,  some  of  the  prejudices  which 
attach  to  the  term,  to  present  some  representa- 
tive definitions  of  mysticism  and  offer  a  brief 
preliminary  account  of  it,  as  understood  in  this 
volume. 
^^sY^^  Mysticism  means  spiritual  enlightenment. -^ 
^  The  mystic  is  one  who  closes  {(iveiv)  the 
avenues  of  sense,  not  in  order  to  be  in  darkness, 
but  that  the  divine  light  "that  never  was  on 
land  or  sea"  may  flow  in  upon  his  inner  sight 
and  enlighten  him.  Edward  Caird  wrote: 
"Mysticism  is  religion  in  its  most  concentrated 
and  exclusive  form;  it  is  the  attitude  of  mind  in 
which  all  other  relations  are  swallowed  up  in 


INTRODUCTION  15 

the  relation  of  the  soul  to  God."    Canon  Inge, 
who  has  earned  the  right  to  a  careful  hearing 
upon  the  nature  of  mysticism,   defines  it  as 
follows:    "Mysticism  is  the  attempt  to  realize  k 
in  thought  and  feeling  the  immanence  of  the  f] 
temporal  in  the  eternal  and  of  the  eternal  in// 
the  temporal."^    Later  in  his  volume  he  adds: 
"The  shortest   definition   of   mysticism   which 
has  ever  been  suggested  is  also  one  of  the  best:  ^tj0t\ 

^Mysticism   is   the  love   of   God.'"     To  thi^^i^i^S^^^ 
might  well  be  added,  "the  loYSLoL-caan."    Few 
more  truly  mystical  utterances  can  be  found  in 
literature  than  this  of  Augustine:    "Blessed  is 
he  who  loves  Thee,  and  his  friend  in  Thee,  and 
his  enemy  for  Thy  sake."^     Rufus  M.  Jones  in/ 
his  Studies  in  Mystical  Religion  defines  mys-| 
ticism  as  follows:   "The  type  of  religion  which] 
puts  the  emphasis  on  immediate  awareness  of 
relation    with    God,    on    direct    and    intimatej 
consciousness  of  the  Divine  Presence.     It  is/j 
religion  in  its  most  acute,  intense  and  living 
stage."^    For  "awareness"  as  the  key  word  one^^ 
might  well  substitute  the  more  familiar  term 
experience,  or  recognition.     _ 

As   an   experience,   mysticism   is   spiritually   ^ 
sentient.     "Mysticism,"  says  Goethe,  "is  the 
scholastic  of  the  heart,   the  dialectic  of  the 

2  Christian  Mysticism,  p.  6. 

*  Confessions,  iv,  9. 

*  Preface,  p.  xv. 


16  INTRODUCTION 

feelings."^  The  mystics  are  men  and  women  of 
deep,  though  often  quiet,  emotional  life.  "  *0 
taste  and  see,'  they  cry,  in  accents  of  astound- 
ing certainty  and  joy.  'Ours  is  an  experi- 
mental science.'"^  And  yet,  "to  say  that  mys- 
tics lay  stress  on  feeling  as  the  element  in  man 
through  which  he  can  best  approach  divinity 
is  no  full  account,"^  any  more  than  it  would  be 
to  say  that  their  main  emphasis  is  upon  think- 
^  ing.  The  fact  is  that  neither  thought  alone,  nor 
feeling  alone,  nor  both  together,  constitute 
mysticism.  It  fuses  and  yet  transcends  them. 
Nor  is  the  will  inactive.  As  the  will  that  is 
"ours  to  be  made  Thine,"  it  plays  a  most 
important  part. 

,      '^^^^yg^^**^^^^is  th^  jP^P^g^ioit^^Qgg^OJ  Supxgme 

'  ReaHty.  ^  More  definitely,  and  in  its  purest 
form,  it  is,  in  Pascal's  phrase,  "God  known  of 
the  heart."  It  is  the  religion  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.*  It  is  the  realization  and  interpretation 
of  religious  experience,  for  it  includes  not  only 
the  experience  itself,  but  the  attempt  to  give 

*  Quoted  by  Inge:  Christian  Mysticism,  p.  338. 
"  Evelyn  Underbill:  Mysticism,  p.  28. 

7  G.  M.  Stratton:  The  Psychology  of  the  Religious  Life,  p.  175. 

*  By  "an  immediate  sense,"  or  "immediacy,"  I  do  not  mean  that  which  is 
independent  of  ideas,  but  that  which  transcends  them.  See  Part  II, 
Chapter  II.  Miss  Underhill,  in  her  volume  Practical  Mysticism,  which 
has  appeared  since  this  writing,  defines  mysticism  as  "the  art  of  imion 
with  Reality." 

9  "Christian  mysticism  is,  in  fact,  the  doctrine,  or,  rather,  the  Experi- 
"^^^/    ence  of  the  Holy  Ghost"  (R.  C.  Moberly:  Atonement  and  Personality, 
p.  312). 


INTRODUCTION  17 

it   expression.     That   may   seem   a   question- 
begging  definition,  and  yet  it  is  difficult  to 
stop  short  of  it.     Philosophically,  mysticism  i/v(^/^v^/y 
rests  upon  intuitional  idealism. 
Jven   more   intimat^^than^he   relation   of      , 
mystiij^ism  to-jpeality-- is  its  relation  to  personaL^  ^^^ 
itXv   Indeed,  mysticism  might  be  described  as 
the  awakening  and  development  of  the  true  self 
in  conjunction  with  the  Perfect  Self.  Or,  as  Mr. 
^George  Wharton  Pegper  put  it  in  his  Lyman 
Beecher  lectures  at  Yale  University,  "Mystic- 
ism is  the  realization  of  one's  self  with  God."  M/^ 

Mysticism  comes  very  near  being  that  which 
goes  by  the  name  of_lj:^ersonal  religion."    An^- 

nru^-wh^-haSj  ny  in='lipvf>.^  Iw-JLas^  a  di^^<^^-<^^P^^i- 
ence  of  Godis  to  that  extent  a,  mystic.    For  he  "* 

can ^eitheFpossess  nor  express  this  conviction 
except  as  he  transcends  ordinary  experience. 
Mysticism  might  be  characterized  as  "the 
practice  of  the  Presence  of  God."  Professor 
James  Bissett  Pratt  has  put  the  case  plainly 
thus:  "Whoever  prays,  not  merely  with  th^ 
belief,  but  with  the  immediate  sense  that  God\ 
is  with  him  and  hears,  is  to  that  extent  a 
mystic  and  a  mystic  of  the  highest  type."^*^ 
Much  besides  this  is  included  in  mysticism,  as 
will  appear  in  the  pages  that  follow,  but  we 
are  here  trying  to  find  the  kernel. 


10  Psychology  of  Religious  Belief,  p.  163. 


^ 


18  INTRODUCTION 

This  by  no  means  makes  mysticism  equivalent 
to  religion.  One  may  be  religious,  earnestly 
religious,  whose  faith  in  God  is — or  is  conceived 
to  be — a  rational  inference  or  an  accepted  belief, 
not  an  immediate  experience,  and  who  regards 
and  fulfills  his  duties — as  Kant  counseled — in 
the  light  of  divine  commands.  Religion,  indeed, 
^^-A^/  is  righteousness  as  well  as  faith.  It  is  a  matter 
of  intellectual  belief,  of  cult^d  conscience  and 
creed — an  ethical,  social,  institutional  fact,  as 
well  as  an  inner  experience.  Mysticism  is  thus 
but  a  part  of  it.  But  to  many  it  seems  the 
salient  part — that  by  which  religion  is  made 
one's  own.  Alison  Parr,  in  Winston  Churchill's 
The  Inside  of  the  Cup,  expresses  a  demand  of 
mysticism  when  she  says,  "I  cannot  take  a 
consensus  of  opinion  about  Him — he  must  be 
my  God." 

Ill 

By  confounding  mysticism  as  a  whole  with 
exaggerated  forms  of  it  certain  popular  mis- 
conceptions have  become  widespread  which  are 
not  easily  uprooted.  One  of  these  is  that 
"mysticism"  is  equivalent  to  ^'mistiness" — 
that  the  mystic  is  one  who  holds  some  very 
hazy,  ill-defined,  dreamy  notions  about  life  and 
truth  and  God  and  himself  which  he  neither 
understands   himself   nor   can   make   clear   to 


eiy 
iclilL 
ier-U 
ticT 


INTRODUCTION  19 

others,  "in  sleep  a  king;  but  waking,  no  such 
matter."  This  mistaken  idea  of  mysticism  on 
the  part  of  its  detractors  has  grown  largely 
out  of  the  superficial  assumption,  "That  whicl 
I  cannot  understand  is  ipso  facto  not  under- 
standable." On  the  contrary,  the  mysti< 
taking  him  "by  and  large,"  is  one  of  the  most 
convinced  and  convincing  of  thinkers.  It  is 
true  that  he  cannot  fully  express  himself. 
That  which  he  regards  as  the  truth  has  taken 
such  possession  of  him  and  seems  to  him  so 
rich  and  splendid  that  he  cannot  express  it 
worthily.  But  there  is  nothing  vague  or  indefi- 
nite in  it.  The  muteness  and  stammering 
with  which  he  is  overcome  is  due  only  to  super- 
abundance of  conviction.  Nor  is  the  mystic  a 
mere  visionary.  Don  Quixote  is  too  far  from 
genuine  mysticism  to  be  even  a  parody  of  it. 

An  equally  groundless  misconception  of  mys- 
ticism is  that  it  is  a  dismal  and  dreary  other- 
worldliness;  the  mystic  a  joyless,  lack-luster 
ascetic.  On  the  contrary,  the  mystic  believes 
himself  possessed  of  the  only  true  secret  of 
happiness.  While  the  man  of  the  world  has 
been  pitying  him  for  the  joylessness  and  color- 
lessness  of  his  life,  he  has  been  pitying  the 
devotee  of  pleasure  for  the  very  same  reason. 
He  is  convinced  that  the  life  that  is  centered 
in  things  is  shallow,  meaningless,  and  exhausting. 


20  INTRODUCTION 

and  is  thankful  that  he  has  discovered  a  life 
far  richer  and  sweeter.    In  finding  Him  who  is 
the  source  of  life  and  joy,  he  is  confident  that 
he  has  all  things  and  abounds.     The  Fountain 
of  Perpetual  Youth  has  been  unsealed  to  him. 
He  has  gotten  into  touch  with  the  Source  of 
Life.     As  Chesterton,  with  true  mystic  mind, 
has  said,  "We  have  sinned  and  grown  old,  and 
our  Father  is  younger  than  we."  In  coming  into 
fellowship  with  Him  we  recover  our  true  youth. 
/NaT  A  still  more  serious  misconception  of  mys- 
V  VV    ticism  is^t^atwhicE^unfuundg^  with  occult- 
V     ism"     Close  a5TEis>eate^ies~i»-iile  mystical, 
•  it-j^,  as  the  historians  of  mysticism  are  more 
and  more  clearly  showing,  a  distinct  and  alien 
territory, — a    Moab    lying    over    against    the 
Holy    Land    of    Mysticism.      "Magical"    and 
y     "mystical"  are  radically  opposed  conceptions. 
Other  misconceptions  of  mysticism  there  are, 
such  as  that  it  is  a  life  of  inactivity  and  empti- 
ness, which  we  may  hope  the  following  pages 
will  help  to  dispel. 

IV 
The   study,   as   well   as   the   cultivation,   of 
mysticism   has   had   its  periods   of   decadence 

"  "Fetishism,  Magic,  Gnosis,  Theurgy,  Asceticism,  Alchemy,  Ritualism, 
etc.,  and  still  more  recently.  Spiritualism  and  Palladism — a  long  list  of  the 
terrible  degradations  of  mysticism,  which  weighs  heavily  on  us  now,  just 
when  we  seem  almost  ready  to  come  into  touch  with  the  broad  and  integral 
life  of  spirit."    E.  R6c6jac:  The  Bases  of  the  Mystical  Knowledge,  p.  82. 


INTRODUCTION  21 

and  florescence.  After  a  long  period  of  com- 
parative neglect  it  has  now  entered  upon  an 
era  of  renewal.  When,  in  1902,  William  Jamgs 
published  his  now  famous  volume.  Varieties  of 
RieTigious  Jj^xperience,  no  one  realized  to  what 

an  extent  the  uncovering  and  examination  of 

^o  many  and  varied  religious  experiences  would 
stimulate  the  study  of  mysticisniajorjiow  many 
^nd  potent  influences  wereat  work  in  the  same 
direetJonr^mce  that  time,  from  many  causes, 
the  interest  in  mysticism  has  grown  widely  and 
rapidly.  Books  of  rare  interest  have  appeared, 
like  Baron  Von  Hugel's  The  Mystical  Element, 
in  Religion,  Evelyn  Underhill's  Mysticism  and 
The  Mystic  Way,  Professor  W.  E.  Hocking's 
The  Meaning  of  God  in  Human  Experience, 
and  Professor  R.  M.  Jones'  Studies  in  Mystical 
Religion.  Older  books  on  the  subject,  like 
Vaughan's  Hours  with  the  Mystics  and  Dean 
Inge's  Christian  Mysticism,  have  taken  on  fre^ 
values.  Many  volumes  upon  religious  psychol- 
ogy have  given  chief  attention  to  mystical 
types  of  religion.  Reviews  and  periodicals  the 
world  around  have  taken  up  the  theme,  until 
now  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  the 
rejpYi\]  of  intgrest  in  the  study  of  mysticism 
has  become  one  of  the  leading  movements  in 
Wresent-day  reh'giniisjjmight. 

"There  has   been   no   similar   movement  of 


22  INTRODUCTION 

\j  Almystical  thought  so  widespread  and  original 
in  impulse  since  before  the  Reformation"  in 
I  the  judgment  of  an  English  theologian."  "It 
is  a  good  sign  in  this  g7ay"liour  ofcrisis  and  of 
doubt,"  writes  an  Italian  psychologist,  "that 
so  many  are  turning  with  renewed  love  to  the 
study  of  the  great  my  sties.  "^^ 

The  return  of  interest  in  mysticism  is  due 

i  partly  to  a  reaction  from  the  dominance  of 
science,  partly  to  a  revolt  from  absolutism  in 
philosophy,  from  dogmatism  in  theology,  and 
from  formality  and  frigidity  in  religion,  but 
chiefly  to  the  attraction  oT  the  subject  itself.^^ 
Our  age  is  weary  of  a  science  that  resolves  the 
universe  into  the  mere  play  and  product  of 


12  A.  S.  Martin;  Review  of  Theology  and  Philosophy,  vol.  viii,  2,  p. 
note.  — 


1'  Guido  Ferrando:  La  Psicologia  du  misticisme,  Psiche,  vol.  i,  4,  p.  265. 
The  same  writer  offers  the  following  suggestion  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
the  study  of  mysticism  should  be  pursued:  "It  belongs  to  psychology  to 
prepare  the  way  and  to  prevail  upon  science,  philosophy,  and  theology  to 
reexamine  and  correct  their  valuations  of  mystical  experience;  so  that 
scientists  may  lay  aside  their  obstinate  determination  to  consider  mystics 
physically  and  mentally  unsovmd;  that  philosophers  may  recognize  that 
the  doctrine  of  mysticism  is  not  reducible  merely  to  a  negative  aflBrmation 
of  an  ineffable  and  empty  reality;  and  that  theologians  may  abandon  their 
distrust  and  hostility  due  to  fear  of  certain  pantheistic  propositions  which 
are  found,  it  is  true,  in  the  writings  of  the  mystics,  but  which  have  a 
significance  very  different  from  that  which  is  attributed  to  them"  (Trans- 
lation by  Professor  W,  F.  Bad6). 

'*  In  the  year  1892,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  interest  in  the  psychical 
study  of  religion,  Thomson  Jay  Hudson,  in  that  popular  book,  The  Law  of 
Psychic  Phenomena,  wrote:  "What  used  to  be  known  as  'vital  religion' 
is  gradual'y  becoming  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  is  giving  place  to  a  cold, 
self-contained,  unemotional  sentiment,  which  is  as  unlike  true  religious 
worship  as  the  other  (emotional  religion),  and  as  abnormal"  (p.  404). 


INTRODUCTION  23 

unintelligent  forces,  of  a  materialism  that  seeks 
only  utilitarian  or  hedonistic  ends,  of  a  philos- 
ophy that  sinks  spiritual  values  in  intellectual 
formulas,  and  of  a  theology  that  goes  on  assert- 
ing ancient  dogmas  without  revitalizing  them 
or  relating  them  to  new  truth.  Mind  and 
heart  are  calling  for  something  deeper.  The 
question  is  not  whether  religious  truth  is  ra- 
tional, but  whether  it  has  not  a  deeper  ration- 
ality than  we  have  been  finding  in  it.  Is  there 
not  a  truth,  as  well  as  a  peace,  that  "passeth 
understanding"  ? 

Besides  these  negative  reasons  there  are  still 
stronger  positive  ones  for  the  revival  of  con- 
fidence in  the  mystical  sources  of  truth.  It 
presents  to  philosophy  new  worlds  for  old.  It 
is  with  a  sense  of  rekindled  youth  that  the 
modern  student  of  philosophy,  wearied  witl| 
static  absolutisms,  hopeless  mechanisms,  and 
stand-pat  idealisms,  has  received  the  mystic 
message  of  fresh  creative  energies  and  of  new 
revelations  of  truth,  lying  hard  by  pathways 
long  trodden  by  "due  feet"  that  have  never 
ventured  to  turn  aside  from  them.  How 
eagerly  to-day  is  the  note  of  mysticism  in 
philosophy  welcomed  and  listened  to — that  of 
a  Eucken,  a  Bergson,*^  a  William  James!    For, 

16  A  clear  account  of  the  mystical  aspects  of  Bergson's  philosophy  will 
be  found  in  the  International  Journal  of  Ethics  for  April,  1013,  by  Professor 
Arthur  O,  Lovejoy. 


J 


^'V^l 


24  INTRODUCTION 

(^  as  time  goes  by,  it  is  the  mysticism  of  Professor 
'/'      James,   rather  than   his  pragmatism,   that  is 

I   making  the  more  lasting  impression.*® 

For  theology,  even  more  than  for  philosophy, 
mysticism  holds  promise  of  unlimited  rein- 
vigoration.  It  uncovers  to  literature  fresh  and 
inexhaustible  sources  of  inspiration.  It  offers 
to  the  church  the  way  to  the  recovery  of  con- 
viction and  passion.  It  presents  to  the  man 
and  woman  in  the  field,  the  shop,  the  factory, 
the  home,  a  deeper  insight  into  the  sacredness 
of  life.  These  may  seem  extravagant  claims. 
They  are,  if  mysticism  is  reduced  to  the  limited 
meaning  ordinarily  given  it;  but  taking  mysti- 
cism in  the  larger,  freer  sense,  its  horizons  are 
as  wide  as  its  insights  are  profound. 

At  the  close  of  a  penetrating  and  compre- 
hensive address  given  at  the  International 
Psychological  Institute  in  1902,  Professor  Bou- 
troux,  after  discussing  mysticism,  viewed  from 
within  and  without,  its  reality  and  its  value, 
said: 

If  these  reflections  have  suflScient  founda- 
tion, it  seems  clear  that  a  broad  and  complete 
study  of  mysticism  offers  not  only  an  intrinsic 
interest  which  is  at  the  same  time  scientific,  but 


"See,  for  instance,  The  Religions  Philosophy  of  William  James,  by 
James  Biasett  Pratt,  in  the  Hibbert  Journal,  vol.  x,  1.  See  also  Professor 
Troeltsch'a  discussion  of  James's  religious  philosophy  in  the  Harvan} 
Theological  Review,  vol.  v,  4. 


INTRODUCTION  25 

also  still  more,  an  interest  affecting  very  directly 
the  life  and  destiny  of  individuals  and  of  hu- 
manity itself. 

No  farther  word  is  needed  to  urge  us  to  wider 
exploration  and  reflection  in  a  realm  so  fair  and 
full  of  promise,  though  it  lies  so  high  among 
the  uplands  of  the  spirit. 


Part  I 
NEW  FORMS  OF  MYSTICISM 

"Quench  not  the  Spirit." 


What  if  the  o'ertumed  altar 

Lays  bare  the  ancient  lie? 
What  if  the  dreams  and  legends 

Of  the  world's  childhood  die? 

The  world  will  have  its  idols, 
And  flesh  and  sense  their  sign; 

But  the  blinded  eyes  shall  open 
And  the  gross  ear  be  fine. 

What  if  the  vision  tarry? 

God's  time  is  always  best; 
The  true  Light  shall  be  witnessed, 

The  Christ  within  confessed. 
-John  G.  Whittier:  "The  Vision  of  Echard." 


CHAPTER  1 

THE  MYSTIC  WAY  AND  ITS  MODERN 
EQUIVALENTS 

In  order  to  understand  the  relation  of  mys- 
ticism to  modern  life  we  should  first  seek  to 
gain  its  attitude  toward  life  itself.  This  can 
hardly  be  better  done  than  through  one  of  its 
most  characteristic  conceptions,  the  Mystic 
Way.  The  mystical  life,  according  to  the 
established  conception,  has  definite  stages  or 
periods  of  development.  They  cannot  always 
be  detached  from  each  other,  nor  do  they 
always  come  in  the  same  order;  yet  they  are, 
on  the  whole,  readily  distinguished. 


There  are  four  more  or  less  distinct  stages  of  / 
progress  in  the  Mystic  Way:  Awakening,  Puri-  v 
fication  (Purgation),  Illumination,  Unification. 
The  first  and  second  of  these  stages  are  some- 
times treated  as  one.  Thus  the  author  of  the 
Theologia  Germanica  writes:  "Now  be  as- 
sured that  no  one  can  be  enlightened  unless  he 


30       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

be  first  cleansed  or  purified,  and  stripped.  So 
also  no  one  can  be  united  with  God  unless  he 
be  first  enlightened.  Thus  there  are  three 
stages:  First,  the  purification;  secondly,  the 
enlightening;  thirdly,  the  union." 

The  mystic  awakening  of  the  soul  is,  as  the 
term  indicates,  a  sometimes  sudden,  some- 
times gradual  opening  of  the  inner  eye  of  the 
soul  to  a  transcendent  reality.  The  manner  of 
this  awakening,  the  exact  form  in  which  this 
new  experience  presents  itseK,  is  as  varied  as 
are  the  individuals  who  experience  it.  To  Paul 
it  was  a  blinding  revelation  of  Jesus.  To 
Augustine  it  was  a  complete  break  with  a 
pagan  and  sensual  life,  and  a  self-dedication  to 
the  new  life  in  Christ.  To  Dante  it  was  a 
revelation  of  heavenly  beauty,  the  dawn  of 
love.  To  Saint  Francis  it  was  a  call  of  Christ 
and  an  espousal  of  Lady  Poverty  for  his  sake. 
To  Catherine  of  Siena  and  to  Madame  Guyon 
it  was  a  "wound  of  love."  To  Henry  Suso  it 
was  a  call  of  the  Eternal  Wisdom. 

The  new  life  brings  with  it  a  certain  summons 
to  action,  to  self-discipline,  a  process  of  bring- 
ing the  self  into  harmony  with  this  newly 
learned  Reality.  This  is  what  is  known  as 
Purgation,  or  the  Purgative  Way.  It  is  the 
principle  of  Detachment  found  in  the  Bhagavad 
Gita.     The  seK  must  be  purged  of  its  selfish- 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  31 

ness;  its  devotion  to  sense  and  the  material--^- — ^ 
world  must  be  broken.  Hence  we  find,  in  the 
case  of  many  of  the  greatest  mystics,  the  most 
severe  and  often  torturing  self-discipHne.  The 
devoted  Henry  Suso,  who  at  the  age  of  eighteen  J 
experienced  his  "commencement"  and  "turned 
wholly  from  things,"  went  through  harrowing  ,U/t/t 
self-tortures.  A  garment  filled  with  pointed 
brass  nails  caused  him  intense  agony,  especially 
in  summer,  and  when  he  tried  to  sleep  he  would 
cry  out,  "O  gentle  God,  what  a  dying  is  this!" 
This,  with  a  cross  of  protruding  nails  which  he 
wore  on  his  back  day  and  night,  and  his  other 
instruments  of  torture  made  a  terrible  arma- 
ment of  purification.  Yet  the  time  came  when 
he  cast  them  all  aside.  "On  a  certain  Whitsun 
day  a  heavenly  messenger  appeared  to  him  and 
ordered  him  in  God's  name  to  continue  it  no 
more.  He  at  once  ceased  and  threw  all  the 
instruments  of  his  suffering  (irons,  nails,  hair- 
shirt,  etc.)  into  a  river."^  Catherine  of  Genoa 
refused  herself  all  food  that  she  liked.  Madame 
Guyon  wore  girdles  of  hair  and  held  wormwood 
in  her  mouth. 

How  far  these  self-denials  and  asceticisms    v-' 
really  furthered  the  life  of  the  spirit  it  is  dif- 
ficult  to   say.      The   motive   certainly   was   a 
high  one  whatever  may  be  true  of  the  method. 

1  See  Underbill,  Mysticism,  p.  263. 


32       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Jacob  Boehme's  experience  is  suggestive.  "I 
began,"  he  says,  "to  fight  a  hard  battle  against 
my  corrupted  nature.  Now,  while  I  was 
wrestling  and  battling,  being  aided  by  God,  a 
wonderful  light  arose  within  my  soul.  It  was 
a  light  entirely  foreign  to  my  unruly  nature, 
but  in  it  I  recognized  the  true  nature  of  God 
and  man,  and  the  relation  existing  between 
them,  a  thing  which  heretofore  I  had  never 
understood,  and  fo^ which  I  would  never  have 
sought."'  ^ 

Whatever  the  place  of  this  disciphne  and  the 
method  of  self -conquest,  it  is  certain  that  every 
one  who  would  live  the  higher  life  must  fight 
/his  battles  with  himseK  and  learn  to  master 
^his  appetites  and  inclinations.  When  once  this 
mastery  over  the  lower  self  is  won,  then  the 
relation  of  the  senses  to  the  spirit  takes  a  new 
aspect.  "You  must  tame  the  Green  Lion  before 
you  give  him  wings,"  as  Miss  Underbill  finely 
isays.  Those  who  have  at  length  conquered 
"^themselves  may,  often  do,  find  a  new  value  in 
the  sense  world,  discovering  in  it  a  medium  for 
the  spirit  life  unrecognized  before.  I  Having 
mastered  the  sense  world,  they  find  its  spiritual 
meanings.X  But  this  the  older  mystics  largely 
failed  to  realize. 

To  the  soul  that  has  thus  entered  the  Mystic 

*  Underbill,  Mysticism,  p.  273. 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  33 

Way  and  is  striving  to  be  true  to  the  heavenly  J 
vision  come  ghmpses,  reveaHngs,  "openings." 
This  is  the  stage  of  Illumination.  Many  and 
diverse  are  these  visitations.  Sometimes  they 
take  the  form  of  mental  insight  and  clarity 
which  make  truth  most  vivid  and  real.  Texts 
of  Scripture  stand  out  in  peculiar  light  and 
beauty.  Sometimes  they  make  themselves  felt 
as  a  great  surging  of  love  in  the  heart.  Some- 
times they  take  the  form  of  visions.  Often 
these  come  with  great  suddenness:  "Straight- 
way," exclaims  the  Seer  of  Revelation,  "I  was 

in  the  spirit:  and  behold -."   Suso,  who  went 

through  great  sufferings  in  self -purgation,  ex- 
perienced equally  intense  illuminations.  One  of 
these  he  describes  (he  always  refers  to  himself 
in  the  third  person)  as  follows : 

He  was  alone  after  his  midday  meal,  under- 
going a  severe  suffering.  Of  a  sudden  he  saw 
and  heard  what  no  tongue  can  express.  What 
he  saw  was  without  form  or  shape,  and  yet 
had  in  itself  the  beauty  of  all  forms  and  all 
shapes.  He  felt  the  sweetness  of  eternal  life 
in  calm  and  silence.  This  experience  lasted 
an  hour  or  less,  and  when  he  came  to  himself 
again  he  felt  that  he  had  come  back  from 
another  world  and  he  was  still  full  of  divine 
joy,  and  felt  himself  as  light  as  if  he  were 
soaring  in  the  air.^ 

»  R.  M.  Jones,  Op.  cit.,  p.  283. 


34        MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Often  these  illuminations  are  closely  related 
to  nature.  Such  was  the  case  with  Saint 
Francis.  Miss  Underhill  gives  a  charming 
description  of  Rose  of  Lima,  the  Peruvian  saint, 
and  her  duet  of  praise  with  the  little  bird.  These 
joyous  illuminations  and  visitations  of  the 
mystics  are  neither  lawless  nor  meaningless. 
They  comejusually  as  the  result  of  long  and 
earnest  contemplation.  They  follow  psycho- 
logical laws.  Nor  are  they  useless.  They 
mean  nmch  for  life.  In  the  light  of  theni  the 
mystic  goes  on  Kis  way  rejoicing.  They  impart 
^  to  him  new  power  for  life  and  service.  ^^^ 

JBeautiful  and  ennobling  as"  are  The  revela- 
tions which  characterize  enlightenment,  it  is 
not  the  final  stage  of  mysticism.  Those  who 
never  get  further  than  this  do  not  reach  the 
goal.  Blessed  as  are  the  illuminated,  they  are 
not  yet  stable,  ripe,  fruitful.  Only  as^they 
reachjhe  UnitiveJ^ife  are  they  one  with  God. 
They  then  become  centers  of  life  in  themselves. 
They  abide,  as  the  branch  in  the  vine.  There- 
fore they  bring  forth  fruit.  To  rea6h  this  stage 
involves  much  of  persevering  progress,  often 
deep  agony  and  suffering.  To  attain  it  one 
niay  have  to  pass  through  the  "Dark  Night 
of  the_Soul."  But  when  once  attained  iFls  the 
abundant  life.  Peace  and  power,  strength  and 
joy,  attend  it.  ^^~ 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  35 

One  of  the  chief  characteristics^  of  the  unitive  ^^^^^\^ 
life  is  its  serenity.  To  one  who  has  reached  this 
state  of  inner  calm  and  peace,  the  circumstances 
and  conditions  of  the  outward  life  are  of  little 
concern.  Dwelling  in  the  secret  place  of  the 
Most  High,  he  abides  under  the  shadow  of  the 
Almighty. 

The  unitive  life  may  seem  to  be  only  a  mono-v  ^ 
tone.  It  is  open  to  the  charge  of  "automatism."  \ 
"The  worshiper  who  persists  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  whole,  thinking  to  establish  himself 
permanently  in  the  immediate  presence  of  God, 
becomes  an  automaton,  precisely  as  the  deter- 
mined worker  becomes  a  machine,"  says  Hock- 
ing;* and  he  instances  Madame  Guy  on.  Thi* 
criticism— gpptfevHiowcvcr; — to  llie  quieLislic 
£erm  of  m^Mlicijui  onty.  The  Spirit-filled  life 
of  the  unitive  mystic  is  neither  automatic  nor 
apathetic.  It  is  characterized  by  a  freedom 
that  has  gotten  beyond  friction,  a  calm  that 
has  transcended  storm. 

A  word  should  be  added  concerning  that 
indescribable  mystical  experience  so  often  re- 
ferred to  in  mystical  literature — in  which  the 
pilgrim  passes  over  the  highest  summits,  so  to 
speak,  of  the  Mystic  Way — Ecstasy, ^t  Rapture. 
Ecstasy  is  defined  by  Inge  as  follows: 


/ 


♦  The  Meaning  of  God,  p.  425. 


:j()       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

J  Ecstasy,  or  vision,  begins  when  thought 
ceases,  to  our  consciousness,  to  proceed  from 
ourselves.  It  differs  from  dreaming,  because 
the  subject  is  awake.  It  differs^  from  halluci- 
nation, because  there  is  no  organic  disturbance: 
it  is,  or  claims  to  be,  a  temporary  enhancement, 
not  a  partial  disintegration,  of  the  mental 
faculties.  Lastly,  it  differs^  from  poetical  inspi- 
\    ration,  because  the  imagination  is  passive.^ 

This  description  applies  to  the  simpler  or 
lower  forms  of  ecstasy  rather  than  to  the  more 
extreme  form  in  which  it  passes  into  trance, 
accompanied  by  unconsciousness,  partial  or 
complete. 

The  cause  of  ecstasy  seems  to  have  been,  not 
so  much  contemplation  as  love.  "By  love  He 
may  be  gotten  and  holden,  but  by  thought 
never,"  said  Plotinus.®  Catherine  of  Genoa's 
ecstasies  are  described  as  follows: 

She  would  remain  as  though  dead  for  six 
hours;  but  on  being  called  to  the  doing  of  any 
duty,  however  trifling  it  might  be,  she  would 
instantly  arise  and  respond,  and  go  about  the 
doing  of  this  her  obligation.  .  .  .  And  coming 
thus  forth  from  her  hiding  place  she  would  have 
her  face  flushed  so  as  to  look  like  a  cherub,  and 
to  seem  to  have  upon  her  lips  the  "Who  then 


•  Inge:  Op.cit.,  p.  14. 

•See  Underbill:  Mysticism,  p.  445. 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  37 

shall  separate  me  from  the  love  of  Christ?"  of 
the  glorious  apostle/ 

II 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  exaggerated 
forms  and  colors  which  mediaeval  mysticism 
gave  to  these  mystical  stages,  they  seem  to  be 
based  upon  laws  of  spiritual  experience.  They 
constitute  "a  sequence  of  psychological  states."* 
It  will  not  be  difficult,  by  probing  a  little  the 
religious  life  of  our  own  day,  to  see  how  at  its 
best  it  conforms  to  the  same  stages,  or,  rather, 
how  the  stages  represent  roughly  the  normal 
development  of  the  spiritual  life  even  under 
modern  conditions.^ 

Awakening  is  as  real  an  experience  now  as 
ever.  Two  independent  factors  have  laid  new 
emphasis  upon  religious  awakening,  or  the  new 
birth,  within  recent  years.  One  is  the  study  cf 
religious  psychology  and  the  other  is  the  grow- 
ing interest  in  Oriental  and  in  cosmic  mysticism. 
Everything  that  draws  away  interest  from  the 
material  realm  to  the  spiritual  is,  of  course, 
bound  to  emphasize  the  need  of  passing  from 


7  Von  Hugel:  The  Mystical  Element  of  Religion,  vol.  i,  p.  140. 

*  A  phrase  used  by  Miss  Underhill  in  the  preface  to  her  volume,  The 
Mystic  Way,  q.v. 

9  I  find  myself  differing  somewhat  from  Professor  R.  M.  Jones's  criticism 
of  the  Mystic  Way  in  his  article  in  The  Harvard  Theological  Review 
(April,  1915).  The  conception  seems  to  me  of  permanent  value,  if  regarded 
as  I  have  indicated. 


38       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

the  one  into  the  other.  In  whatever  hght  the 
new  life  is  conceived,  there  must  be  a  turning 
away  in  penitence  and  contrition  from  the 
domination  of  sense  and  selfishness  and  a 
rebirth  into  the  world  of  spirit.  The  eye  of 
the  spirit  must  open  upon  those  realities  which 
the  eye  of  the  body  cannot  see.  The  experience 
we  call  conversion  has  often  been  sadly  distorted, 
but  in  its  genuine  form  it  emphasizes  the  part 
which  the  will  plays  in  the  change.  Yet  the  act 
of  the  will  is  less  prominent  in  mysticism  than 
the  spiritual  enlightenment.  Recall,  for  ex- 
ample, those  memorable  words  in  which  Fox 
described  his  entrance  into  the  light : 

I  heard  a  voice  which  said,  "There  is  one, 
even  Jesus  Christ,  that  can  speak  to  thy  con- 
dition." And  when  I  heard  it  my  heart  did  leap 
for  joy. 

An  interesting  modem  instance  of  awaken- 
ing of  a  very  normal  and  quiet  kind,  is  that  of 
the  late  John  Bigelow,  of  New  York,  long  an 
eminent  citizen,  who,  during  an  enforced  deten- 
tion in  the  island  of  Saint  Thomas,  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  writings  of  Swedenborg  and 
through  them  had  his  eyes  opened  to  the 
spiritual  meaning  of  the  Bible,  of  nature,  and 
of  life  itself.  In  closing  his  account  of  this 
experience  as  related  in  his  interesting  volume. 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  39 

The  Bible  that  Was  Lost  and  Is  Found,  Mr. 
Bigelow  writes: 

Why,  I  ask,  all  these  incidents,  none  of  which 
would  have  occurred  to  me  if  I  could  have  had 
my  own  way,  unless  it  was  necessary  to  make 
me  lie  down  to  sleep  like  Jacob  upon  a  pillow 
of  stone,  that  when  I  should  awake  I  might 
be  ready  to  exclaim:  "Surely  the  Lord  is  in 
this  place  and  I  did  not  know  it." 

A  very  different  and  far  more  dramatic 
modern  instance  of  awakening  is  that  of  Helen 
R.  Albee,  related  in  her  book.  The  Gleam.  One 
of  the  incidents  connected  with  her  entrance 
into  a  larger  life  was  associated  with  automatic 
writing,  a  practice  which  she  admits  to  be 
questionable: 

After  a  good  deal  of  preliminary  writing  one 
evening  my  pencil  remained  stationary  for  a 
period  and  then  suddenly  questioned  if  I  felt 
myself  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  future  life. 
I  replied:  "No,  indeed.  I  am  just  getting 
ready  to  live.  I  have  given  years  to  study 
and  preparation  for  future  work  in  design,  and 
all  that  would  be  sheer  waste  if  I  pass  out  now." 
Then  it  wrote  "Your  work  that  you  value  so 
highly  is  of  no  real  consequence.  ...  It  has 
no  value  whatever,"  it  repeated,  "for  the  reason 
that  you  are  only  serving  self  in  it  all.     You 


40       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

fancy  you  are  working  for  others,  but  in  your 
secret  heart  you  are  desiring  to  do  some  great 
thing,  something  unusual,  and  in  your  concen- 
trated effort  to  serve  that  end  you  are  ignoring 
very  obvious  duties;  you  neglect  the  little 
things,  the  small  kindness  and  thought  of 
others;  these  are  what  make  up  the  whole  of 
Ufe.".  .  .  Mortifying  as  it  was,  I  could  not 
protest,  for  it  was  quite  true,  though  I  had 
never  guessed  it;  and  for  hours  that  night  I 
stood  before  the  bar  of  judgment  and  faced  my 
mean  little  soul  with  its  petty  self-seeking,  its 
evasion  of  everything  that  was  unpleasant.  .  .  . 
It  was  a  terrible  hour  of  revelation,  and  well 
deserved.  .  .  .  That  was  the  birth  night  of  a 
new  and  higher  existence.^^ 

To-day  the  theosophist  and  the  poet  are 
insisting,  though  in  very  different  ways,  upon 
that  need  of  the  new  birth  of  which  the  church 
has  been  saying  so  much  less.  Even  in  such 
books  as  Bucke's  Cosmic  Consciousness  great 
stress  is  laid  upon  the  mystic  experience  by 
which  one  enters  into  the  larger  consciousness. 
Indeed,  Dr.  Bucke  takes  as  the  motto,  or  text, 
of  his  volume  the  familiar  words,  "Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  except  a  man  be  born  anew,  he  can- 
not see  the  kingdom  of  God." 

The  second  stage,  Purgation  or  Purification 


10  The  Gleam,  pp.  78,  79. 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  41 

(for  which  the  Greek  term  catharsis  is  sometimes 
used),  is  also  essential  to  spiritual  living  in  any 
age.  It  is  the  discipline  by  which  the  spiritual 
nature  gains  control  of  the  physical,  and  thus 
develops  a  true  personality.  Of  this  necessity. 
Christian  mysticism  from  the  very  beginning 
took  a  firm  hold.  Only,  unfortunately,  it  put 
too  much  emphasis  upon  an  arbitrary  and 
repressive  method  of  purification — asceticism. 
In  spite  of  its  unnatural  character,  asceticism 
undoubtedly  produced  some  admirable,  ter- 
ribly admirable,  effects.  But  it  quite  missed 
a  fact  which  the  modern  mind  is  coming  thor- 
oughly to  understand,  namely,  that  life  itself, 
rightly  lived,  offers  the  best  and  most  normal 
means  of  purification^^  Here,  right  at  hand, 
in  daily  living,  without  fleeing  to  the  desert 
or  retreating  to  the  monastery,  without  the  use 
of  fasting  or  hair  shirt,  mortification  or  flagel- 
lation, in  everyday  duties  and  disciplines,  lies 
the  divinely  ordained  corrective  of  the  flesh. 
Here  is  ample  training  for  the  spirit. 

Protestantism,  speaking  broadly,  overthrew 
the  ascetic  ideal  and  substituted  for  it  the  con- 
ception of  life  as  furnishing  its  own  discipline 
in    holiness.      Of    this    release    and    advance, 

11  This  is  not  to  say  that  the  mystics  as  a  whole  neglected  the  common 
duties  of  life,  including  civil  and  social  duties,  or  failed  to  see  disciplinary 
values  in  them.  The  mystics  of  the  Rhine,  especially  Eckhart  and  Tauler, 
had  much  to  say  in  their  sermons  of  the  common  duties  of  everyday  life. 


42       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Luther,  more  than  any  other,  was  the  prophet 
and  leader.  It  was  his  wholesome  and  manly 
piety  that  enabled  him  to  see  that  the  devout 
and  self-denying  facing  of  common  life  with 
its  toil  and  trial,  its  searching  tests  and  tempta- 
tions, is  the  best  and  truest  possible  purgation. 
But  Luther  only  half  succeeded*  in  inculcating 
this  truth.  The  lesson  has  been  slow  in  learning. 
It  is  strange  that  with  the  example  and  teaching 
of  Jesus,  reproduced  in  Paul,  so  sun-clear  in 
this  respect,  the  ascetic  ideal  could  ever  have 
gained  so  firm  a  hold  on  Christianity.  Even  in 
Protestantism,  in  a  modified  form  the  ascetic 
ideal  has  been  incorrigibly  persistent. 

Only  in  our  own  generation  have  Christians 
come  to  see  that  asceticism  has  no  place  in 
Christian  life,  and  that  the  necessary  element 
in  spiritual  life  which  it  strove  to  secure  lies 
in  the  very  circumstances  and  conditions  of 
human  existence,  when  rightly  understood  and 
used.  Living  itself  is  an  ascetic  discipline,  a 
school  of  personality.  If  one  may  venture  to 
alter  a  classic  line  in  the  direction  of  its  writer's 
own  teaching,  "Life's  a  school,  and  all  the  men 
and  women  simply  scholars."  There  ar^  truants 
in  this,  as  in  every  school — those  who  refuse 
to  get  its  lessons,  those  who  hate  it,  those  who 
fail  to  see  what  it  is  for  and  what  it  can  do  for 
them.    Yet  the  great  school  of  life  goes  steadily 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  43 

on.  It  keeps  every  day.  Its  stem,  relentless, 
yet  rewarding  lessons  are  daily  shirked,  despised, 
misunderstood  by  some,  conned  and  loved  by 
others.  On  the  whole,  as  Dr.  MacLure  observed 
of  life  in  Drumtochty,  "it's  doing  its  wark  , 
weel" — although  it  takes  a  mystic  to  see  it. 

Work,  for  instance,  is  a  masterly  purgation. 
Humanity  has  been  laboring  and  sweating  and 
protesting  for  countless  generations  and  has 
not  yet  fully  learned  that  toil,  instead  of  a 
curse,  is  a  purifying  and  saving  grace,  a  purga- 
tion, a  masked  blessing.  Yet  work  is  also  very 
much  more  than  a  purgation.  On  its  finer  side 
it  is  a  species  of  devotion,  a  form  of  active  con- 
templation. It  has  been  made  a  curse,  it  is 
true,  by  excess  and  wrong  conditions  and  bit- 
terness of  spirit,  but  in  itself  it  is  an  angel  of 
purifying  in  rough  guise.  Consider  the  effect 
upon  character  of  having  to  rise  for  work  at  a 
given  hour  (if  only  it  be  not  every  morning  in 
the  week)  and  of  having  a  family  to  care  for. 
Watch  the  influence  of  idleness  on  the  average 
man  and  then  the  purifying  effect  of  a  return 
to  work.  Study  the  effect  of  responsibility. 
Take  a  careless,  worthless  young  fellow  and 
make  him  a  motorman  or  a  conductor  and 
observe  the  change  in  him.  Put  a  light-headed 
young  woman  in  charge  of  a  school,  or  a  class, 
and  note   the   effect.      Could   any   asceticism 


U        MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

accomplish  transformations  so  purifying  as  do 
these  and  similar  responsibilities? 

Consider  the  effect  upon  character  of  scien- 
tific investigation,  with  its  chivalrous,  devoted, 
almost  ascetic  intensity  of  application.  Science 
is  but  one  of  the  new  forms  of  purgation, — 
easy  because  chosen.  The  exquisite  tortures 
attending  present-day  "improved"  methods  of 
living,  in  their  demands  upon  patience  and  con- 
sideration and  composure,  are  surely  rich 
enough  in  disciplinary  values.  Is  not  the 
telephone  as  stinging  as  the  hair  shirt,  the  book- 
agent  as  flagellation?  Does  one  need  to  fast 
if  he  can  accept  graciously  the  discovery  that 
the  cook  has  burned  the  soup,  or  left  the  season- 
ing out  of  the  dessert?  Need  one  sleep  on  a 
bare  board  if  he  can  endure  without  inner 
cursing  the  after-midnight  dance  in  his  neigh- 
bor's house?  We  do  not  need  to  seek  occasions 
of  discipline  of  the  flesh;  life  brings  enough  of 
them  in  its  train.  The  trouble,  one  might 
almost  say  the  tragedy,  is  that  we  fail  to  take 
these  things  religiously,  mystically,  spiritually, 
so  that  the  product,  instead  of  a  discipHned  and 
seasoned  character,  is  too  often,  in  slang  phrase, 
only  "jasm."^^ 

It  was  a  most  serious  mistake  of  medisevalism 


12  A  distinguished  theologian  describes  "jasm"  as  the  efifect  produced 
when  a  saw  comes  in  contact  with  a  nail. 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  45 

to  elevate  the  monastic  life  above  the  family 
life,  as  a  school  of  godliness,  for  of  all  exacting, 
probing,  protean,  yet  infinitely  enriching  dis- 
ciplines, the  bringing  up  of  children — that 
modem  heroism  from  which  so  many  shrink — 
is  the  most  perfect.  Then  there  is  the  never- 
ending  discipline  of  learning  to  get  on  with 
people,  adapting  oneself  in  love  to  all  the  faults, 
idiosyncrasies,  and  notions  that  differ  from 
your  own,  in  the  people  about  you.  "The  Art 
of  Living  Together"  produces  many  a  human 
masterpiece  and  many  a  consummate  artist. 

Turn  from  these  lesser,  but  by  no  means 
negligible  substitutes  for  asceticism,  to  the 
more  overwhelming  disciplines — the  disasters 
and  ills  which  sweep  over  us.  What  does 
anything  that  we  can  do  to  ourselves,  to  wean 
our  sluggish  wills  from  too  close  attachment 
to  the  world,  amount  to  beside  these  "acts  of 
God".'^  They  are  acts  of  nature  rather  than  of 
God,  or  his  only  as  belonging  to  a  world  that 
is  his.  And  yet  he  comes  near  to  us  in  them, 
as  a  mother  to  an  injured  child.  Henry  Suso 
discovered  that  his  self-inflictions  were  as 
nothing  beside  those  appointed  to  him  by 
Providence.  The  "slings  and  arrows  of  out- 
rageous fortune"  strike  down  one's  self-con- 
fidence most  effectually.  If  a  man  thinketh 
himself  to  be  something  when  he  is  nothing. 


46       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

these  experiences  will  undeceive  him.  As  a 
tree  in  the  storm,  so  we  are  bowed  down  to  the 
ground  and  all  the  pride  and  self-assurance 
taken  from  us.  Failure,  loss,  illness,  bereave- 
ment— are  they  good  for  us  or  not.'^  The 
mystic  is  assured  that  they  are,  and  searches 
diligently  for  that  realization  of  Infinite  Love 
which  can  come  only  in  the  "dark  night  of  the 
soul."  For  him  light  never  fails  to  arise  in 
darkness. 

The  dark  comes  down  about  us,  but  a  star 
Beckons  beyond,  beyond  the  thing  we  are.^ 

Not  that  the  mystic  necessarily  holds  that 
the  dark  and  the  storm  are  sent  by  God  and 
that  the  lightning  javelins  of  fate  are  hurled 
by  his  hand.  Evangelicalism  went  too  far  in 
that  direction.  It  bore  down  upon  the  victim, 
often  when  his  heart  was  sorest  and  his  mind 
most  full  of  questioning,  and  insisted  that  he 
take  the  disaster  as  the  direct  act  of  God,  with 
the  'nplication  also  of  its  punitive  intent.  The 
mystic  has  not  urged  this  interpretation.  He 
has  turned,  rather,  to  the  possibilities  of  puri- 
B^cation  and  perfection  enwrapped  in  trouble, 
and  found  them — not  always  at  once,  but  in 
the  end — incomparably  rich  and  wonderful. 


u  John  Galen  Howard:  Grasmere,  p.  23. 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  47 

III 

Awakening  and  Purgation  are  thus  seen  to 
be  permanent  factors  in  religious  experience, 
as  valid  and  essential  to-day  as  ever.  So  also 
is  Illumination. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  breadth  and  meaning 
of  illumination  is  extending  constantly.  The 
records  of  religious  experience  are  full  of  in- 
stances of  it  in  various  forms  and  degrees.  I 
have  on  my  table  the  unpublished  journal  of 
one  of  the  pioneer  missionaries  of  California — 
a  man  who  fulfilled  a  long  and  splendid  service 
of  institution-building  on  the  Pacific  coast — 
in  which  is  the  following  entry,  under  date  of 
December  26,  1856: 

Light!  Light!  .  .  .  That  the  sense  of  "no 
condemnation"  belongs  to  anyone  as  soon  as 
he  is  in  Christ  Jesus — then  he  is  born  into 
liberty,  translated  out  of  legality  into  Christian 
liberty.  This  seems  now  to  be  light  to  me.  It 
seems  at  this  moment  to  reconcile  the  struggles 
of  life,  struggles  under  much  darkness  aiid 
bondage.  ...  I  record  this  view  now  this  day 
as  I  perceive  it,  that  I  may  survey  the  truth  on 
all  sides,  and  if  this  is  a  true  standpoint,  it  is 
practically  (though  not  theoretically  altogether) 
new  to  me. 

There  is  no  reason  for  regarding  illumination 


48       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

as  confined  to  a  specifically  churchly  experience. 
If  we  as  personal  spirits  belong  to  a  spiritual 
world  which  impinges  upon  the  physical  world, 
why  should  not  the  consciousness  of  that  larger 
world  be  not  only  an  underlying  element  of 
our  general  consciousness,  but  also  at  times 
assume  an  especial  intensity?  Why  should 
not  the  spiritual  order  at  times  come  to  con- 
trol and  illvminate  our  total  consciousness 
with  such  vividness  that  we  realize,  as  we 
do  not  on  ordinary  levels,  its  reality  and  su- 
premacy? 

The  capacity  for  such  illumination  is  by  no 
means  confined  to  saints,  or  mystics  of  the 
first  degree,  although  in  their  case,  naturally, 
it  is  more  intense  and  dramatic.  On  the  con- 
trary, there  is  ample  evidence  for  believing 
that  susceptibility  to  illumination  is  a  human 
capacity,  varying  almost  infinitely  in  degree  and 
manner  of  expression,  the  treasure  of  the 
humble,  as  well  as  the  shekinah  of  the  saint, 
slumbering  in  us  all,  awaiting  only  the  effect 
of  a  releasing  touch  to  assert  itself  and  raise 
us  into  the  fellowship  of  the  illuminati. 

Yet  how  little  is  the  capacity  realized! 
When  we  look  about  for  the  reason  why  illumi- 
nation of  a  normal  sort  is  not  more  general,  the 
explanation  is  not  far  to  seek.  With  customary 
penetration,   William  James  pointed  out  one 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  49 

reason  for  it  in  the  force  of  the  inhibition  which 
many  persons  place  upon  the  exercise  of  the 
mystic  capacity. 

Their  religious  faculties  may  be  checked  in 
their  natural  tendency  to  expand,  by  beliefs 
about  the  world  that  are  inhibitive,  the  pes- 
simistic and  materialistic  beliefs,  for  example, 
within  which  so  many  good  souls,  who  in  former 
times  would  have  freely  indulged  their  religious 
propensities,  find  themselves,  as  it  were,  frozen; 
or  the  agnostic  vetoes  upon  faith  as  something 
weak  and  shameful,  under  which  so  many  of 
us  to-day  lie  cowering,  afraid  to  use  our  in- 
stincts.^* 

When  the  religious  capacity  is  thus  "inhi- 
bited," "frozen,"  "vetoed,"  as  if  it  were  some- 
thing to  be  ashamed  of — a  weak  and  childish 
credulity  to  *  be  repressed  and  smothered — 
what  wonder  that  not  only  the  man  of  the 
world  but  sometimes  the  man  of  the  cloth  also 
thinks  it  the  part  of  rationality  and  robustness 
to  take  the  sceptical  or  patronizing  attitude 
toward  a  religion  of  the  heart,  not  only  shutting 
himself  out  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom 
but  keeping  others  out  also?  Yet  still  the  gates 
of  the  mystic  city  are  open  day  and  night,  the 


"  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  p.  204. 


50       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

visitations  of  truth  and  beauty  come  to  the 
pure  in  heart,  and  the  meek  inherit  not  only- 
heaven  but  earth. 

Often  these  illuminations  come  in  the  form 
of  guidance  and  direction  in  the  more  delicate 
and  critical  affairs  of  life.  A  friend  of  mine,  a 
teacher,  in  perplexity  over  what  to  say  to  a 
pupil  whom  she  saw  to  be  going  wrong,  con- 
centrated her  mind  in  prayer  for  guidance  and 
heard  a  voice,  distinct  though  not  audible,  say 
the  one  word,  "Wait."  She  waited  and  won. 
Another  friend  has  just  solved  a  vital  issue  in 
life  in  the  full  sense  of  spiritual  guidance.  Such 
experiences  are  doubtless  especially  strong 
assertions  of  the  moral  sense  and  judgment, 
but  that  does  not  prevent  their  being  some- 
thing more. 

IV 

Finally,  the  unitive  life,  unio  mystwa^  so  far 
from  being  an  extreme  and  impossible  flight 
of  the  religious  imagination,  may  be,  in  its 
fundamental  principle,  a  normal  and  reahzable 
experience.  If  we  are  children  of  God  anything 
less  than  spiritual  union  with  him  would  be 
less  than  the  true  goal.  And,  if  so,  the  way  to 
that  goal  cannot  be  a  smooth  and  easy  path. 
One  may  come  into  the  consciousness  of  the 
Divine  Love  early,  naturally,  swiftly,  but  to 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  51 

reach  anything  like  full  realization  of  it,  to 
attain  those  heights  of  serenity  and  calm  where 
one  can  take  life  and  all  its  experiences  with 
perfect  equanimity,  abiding  in  the  Divine  as 
the  branch  abides  in  the  Vine,  that  cannot  be 
an  easy  matter.  The  great  mystics  seem  almost 
out  of  sight  as  we  look  up  at  them  moving 
toward  these  summits.  But  perhaps  they 
made  the  way  too  steep,  the  ladder  too  high. 
At  all  events  there  may  be  a  consciousness  of 
harmony  with  God — better,  perhaps,  called 
unison — which  is  most  normal  and  which  many 
a  saintly  character  in  the  knowledge  of  all  of 
us  has  attained. 

We  may  even  ask  whether  that  exceptional 
mystical  experience,  the  so-called  Ecstasy,  or 
Rapture,  is,  after  all,  quite  so  remote  and 
unallied  as  both  the  mystics  themselves  and 
their  biographers  have  sometimes  assumed  it 
to  be.^^  I  am  thinking  now,  not  of  the  psy- 
chological phenomena  of  self -hypnotism,  coma,*^ 
etc.,  but  of  forms  of  experience  of  a  far  less 
abnormal  character.  Is  there  not  something 
closely   approaching  ecstasy,   for  instance — as 


1*  Writing  of  ecstasy,  Inge  says:  "I  regard  these  experiences  as  neither 
more  or  less  'supernatural'  than  other  mental  phenomena.  Many  of  them 
are  certainly  pathological;  about  others  we  may  feel  doubts;  but  some 
have  every  right  to  be  considered  as  real  irradiations  of  the  soul  from  'the 
light  that  forever  shines,'  real  notes  of  the  'harmony  that  is  in  immortal 
souls'  "  (Christian  Mysticism,  p.  18). 


52       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Fleming  suggests — in  canto  xcv  of  the  **In 
Memoriam,"  or — ^as  Inge  points  out — in  Words- 
worth's description  of  the 

Serene  and  blessed  mood 

In  which  the  breath  of  this  corporeal  frame. 

And  even  the  motion  of  our  human  blood, 

Almost  suspended,  we  are  laid  asleep 

In  body  and  become  a  living  soul 

And  see  into  the  life  of  things. 

Coleridge's  "Hymn  before  Sunrise  in  the  Vale 
of  Chamounix"  suggests  something  approach- 
ing rapture  in  such  lines  as: 

Till  the  dilating  soul,  enrapt,  transfused. 

Into  the  mighty  vision  passing — there 

As  in  her  natural  form,  swelled  vast  to  Heaven. 

Certainly,  Charles  G.  Finney's  experience 
was  hardly  less  than  an  ecstasy  when  he  sat 
alone  in  his  office  and  felt  the  love  of  God  roll 
over  him  in  waves.  James  Russell  Lowell 
recounts  in  one  of  his  letters,  reproduced  by 
William  James,  an  experience  that  seems  to 
fall  not  very  far  short  of  ecstasy: 

As  I  was  speaking  [on  spiritual  matters]  the 
whole  system  rose  up  before  me  like  a  vague 
destiny  looming  from  the  abyss.  I  never  before 
so  clearly  felt  the  Spirit  of  God  in  me  and 
around  me.     The  whole  room  seemed  to  me 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  53 

full  of  God.  The  air  seemed  to  waver  to  and 
fro  with  the  presence  of  Something,  I  know 
not  what.  I  spoke  with  the  calmness  and  clear- 
ness of  a  prophet.^® 

In  many  of  these  experiences  there  is  lacking 
the  sense  of  an  intensely  intimate  realization  of 
the  Divine  Personality  such  as  appears  in  Paul's 
conversion,  or  in  Dante's  beatific  vision,  or  in 
the  trances  of  Saint  Teresa  and  Saint  Catherine. 
There  is  more  in  them  of  the  cosmic  sense  that 
has  come  into  our  modern  thought;  and  yet 
that  does  not  mean  that  this  consciousness  is 
out  of  keeping  with  Reality  as  Personal. 

One  would  not  wish  in  any  wise  to  belittle 
the  thrilling  and  solemn  raptures  of  the  medi- 
aeval saints;  and  yet  it  is  quite  possible  that 
they  have  been  too  far  segregated  and  canon- 
ized. May  there  not  be  minor,  as  well  as  major, 
ecstasies,  in  which  the  soul  receives,  not  all  the 
raptures  of  seraphic  saintliness,  but  enough  of 
the  breath  of  the  Spirit  to  waft  it  for  a  brief 
moment  out  upon  the  ocean  of  the  infinite, 
where  it  is  caught  away  from  itself  into  com- 
munion with  the  Eternal  .f^  It  is  well  to  remem- 
ber that  the  trance,  which  so  often  attended 
ecstasy,  bore  a  supernatural  aspect  to  the  medi- 
aeval mind  which  it  has  lost  to  us. 


I"  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  p.  i 


54       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

V 

Have  we  essayed  a  vain  undertaking  in 
attempting  to  bridge  the  gap  between  these 
far-away  saints,  mounting  their  high  and  stony 
way  toward  the  Perfect,  and  the  saints  of  our 
own  days  treading  their  humbler,  more  prosaic 
pathway?  Must  we  put  down  "the  saints  of 
old"  as  neurotics  and  extremists  and  our  present- 
day  saints  as  no  saints  at  all?  It  is  useless  to 
attempt  to  ignore  the  wide  chasm  between 
their  intrepid,  other-worldly,  sense-scorning, 
world-repressing  piety  and  that  of  our  own 
time.  And  yet,  may  it  not  be  that  the  partakers 
of  the  mystic  life  to-day  are  so  far  one  with 
them  that  "they  without  us  should  not  be  made 
perfect.""  These  skyey  saints  were  doubtless 
far  more  human  than  a  distant  view  of  them 
reveals.  Had  they  not  "eyes,  hands,  organs, 
dimensions,  senses,  affections,  passions"?  And 
have  not  we  men  of  to-day,  even  in  our  "brassy 
bosoms  and  rough  hearts  of  flint,"  something 
of  the  incipient  qualities  of  sainthood?  If  you 
prick  us  with  the  reproach  of  an  unrealized 

17  Since  writing  the  above  I  find  that  A.  B.  Sharp>e,  Roman  Catholic 
though  he  is,  after  setting  apart  the  mystics  as  having  a  supernatural 
experience  peculiar  to  themselves,  nevertheless  finds  himself  compelled  to 
ask  whether,  after  all,  the  ordinary  Christian  does  not  share  something  of 
their  experience.  He  concludes:  "It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  an  aspect 
which  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  from  that  of  genuine  mysticism  seems  at 
times  to  belong  to- some  of  the  inward  experiences  of  ordinary  persons  who 
have  no  thought  or  knowledge  of  the  contemplative  life"  (Mysticism, 
p.  191). 


I 


THE  MYSTIC  WAY  55 

ideal,  do  we  not  bleed?  If  a  sunset  smites  us 
with  the  glory  that  never  was  on  land  or  sea, 
do  we  not  yearn?  If  a  noble,  sacrificial,  love-lit 
character  crosses  our  pathway,  do  we  not  long 
to  be  like  him?  Are  men  so  earthly,  after  all, 
as  we  have  thought, 

"Finished  and  finite  clods,  untroubled  by 
a  spark"? 

Such  is  not  the  conviction  of  our  better  mo- 
ments. 

Our  soul,  in  its  rose-mesh 

Pulled  ever  to  the  earth,  still  yearns  for  rest. 

And  not  for  rest  only.  Life  will  not  let  us  rest 
content  upon  the  lower  levels.  Something,  or 
Someone,  is  ever  calling  us  to  higher  aims  and 
nobler  ideals. 


CHAPTER  II 
HEALTH  MYSTICISM 

The  mystic  has  always  felt  the  close  intimacy 
of  the  soul  and  the  body  as  a  challenge.  It  has 
appealed  to  him,  not  so  much  in  the  light  of  a 
problem  to  be  solved  as  an  issue  to  be  met. 
He  knows  that  body  and  spirit  are  not  one  and 
the  same,  but  distinct.  Nothing  is  more  cer- 
tain to  him  than  that.  Yet  at  every  moment 
he  feels  how  closely  they  are  united.  How  to 
bring  the  two  into  right  relations  and  keep  them 
so  has  ever  been  to  him  a  task  of  supreme 
moment.  Mysticism  has  frequently  attempted 
to  accomplish  this  by  means  of  a  process  of 
discipline  (askesis).  This  was  the  idea  of  the 
hermits.  Anthony  and  his  successors  looked 
upon  asceticism  as  an  exercise,  a  kind  of  spir- 
itual athletics.  The  founders  of  monasticism 
adopted  the  same  view.  The  physical  life, 
they  felt,  was  too  assertive.  It  stood  in  the 
way  of  spiritual  life;  cramped  it,  blocked  it, 
would  not  let  it  come  to  its  own.  "When  the 
stomach  is  full  of  meat,"  said  Paul  the  Hermit, 
"forthwith  the  great  vices  bubble  out."^    The 

'  Charles  Kingsley:  The  Hermits,  p.  102  (Sunday  Library  Edition). 
56 


HEALTH  MYSTICISM  57 

body,  though  a  creation  of  God,  was  regarded 
as  more  or  less  given  over  into  the  sway  of 
Satan.  Therefore,  in  order  to  live  the  spirit 
life,  the  body  must,  be  denied,  its  appetites  and 
desires  suppressed. 

I 

The  asceticism  of  the  past  can  hardly  be 
understood  unless  we  take  into  account  the 
contrast  between  the  physical,  and  especially 
the  nervous,  robustness  of  those  generations 
and  our  own. 

In  respect  to  nervous  sensitiveness,  the  Euro- 
pean and  American  have  passed  through  a 
development,  or  a  degeneration — as  one  chooses 
to  look  at  it — within,  say  five  generations,  whose 
extent  and  consequences  we  fail  to  realize. 
Disease  has  been  reduced,  hygienic  living 
promoted  and  life  greatly  prolonged,  espe- 
cially within  the  last  century.  At  the  same 
time,  the  nervous  system  has  become  more 
delicate  and  easily  disturbed,  neurasthenia 
and  all  forms  of  nervous  disorder  have  in- 
creased, and  we  find  ourselves  almost  of 
another  stuff  from  our  remote  ancestors  in  our 
physical  constitution.  We  forget  this  in  read- 
ing history  and  in  objectifying  the  life  of  the 
past  and  shudder,  more  perhaps  than  we  need, 
at  conditions  of  cruelty  and  suffering,  terrible 


58       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

enough,  to  be  sure,  but  producing  far  less  acute 
anguish  than  would  be  the  case  if  they  existed 
to-day.  From  the  point  of  view  of  ability  to 
cope  with  our  physical  environment,  this  high 
nervous  development  is  doubtless  a  loss;  but 
from  the  point  of  view  of  mental  and  spiritual 
susceptibility  and  acuteness,  except  where  it  has 
become  abnormal,  it  is  an  inestimable  gain. 
Stolidity,  with  all  its  dull  and  heavy  encum- 
brance to  the  higher  life,  is  disappearing.  The 
effect  upon  the  religious  life  is  apparent.  A 
religion  to  appeal  to  the  type  of  mind  associated 
with  a  highly  refined  and  sensitive  physical 
organism  must  be  of  a  kind  capable  of  adjust- 
ment to  its  needs.  If  it  prescribes  severities 
and  asceticisms  to  a  constitution  too  refined  to 
bear  them,  it  will  alienate  and  stunt,  rather 
than  call  out  and  strengthen,  the  inner  life. 
This  is  the  case  with  respect  to  asceticism  in 
our  day  as  contrasted  with  the  past. 

Probably  no  one  has  so  graphically  painted 
this  contrast  as  Francis  Thompson,  the  mys- 
tical poet,  in  his  suggestive  little  book  Health 
and  Holiness,  from  which  we  take  the  following: 

To  our  generation  uncompromising  facts  and 
severities  of  conduct  are  found  to  be  piteously 
alien;  not  because,  as  rash  censors  say,  we  are 
too  luxurious,  but  because  we  are  too  nervous, 
intricate,  devitalized.     We  find  our  austerities 


HEALTH  MYSTICISM  59 

ready-made.  The  east  wind  has  replaced  the 
discipline,  dyspepsia,  the  hair  shirt.  Either 
may  inflict  a  more  sensitive  agony  than  a  lusty 
anchorite  suffered  from  lashing  himself  to  blood. 
It  grows  a  vain  thing  for  us  to  mortify  the 
appetite — would  we  had  the  appetite  to  mor- 
tify ! — macerate  an  evanescing  flesh,  bring  down 
a  body  all  too  untimely  spent  and  forewearied, 
a  body  which  our  liberal-lived  sires  have  trans- 
mitted to  us  quite  effectually  brought  down. 
The  pride  of  life  is  no  more;  to  live  is  itself  an 
ascetic  exercise;  we  require  spurs  to  being,  not  a 
snaffle  to  rein  back  the  ardor  of  being.  ...  It 
was  not  so  with  our  fortunate  (or  at  least  earth- 
happier)  ancestors.  For  them  doubtless  the  old 
idea  worked  roughly  well.  They  lashed  them- 
selves with  chains;  they  went  about  in  the  most 
frightful  forms  of  hair  shirt,  which  grew  stiffened 
with  their  blood,  and  yet  were  unrestingly 
energetic.  .  .  .  This  implies  a  constitution  we 
can  but  dimly  conjecture,  to  which  austerity, 
so  to  speak,  was  a  wholesome  antidote.^ 

There  is,  of  course,  much  of  poetic  license 
as  well  as  of  overgeneralization  in  such  a 
statement;  and  yet,  there  is  so  much  too  that 
is  pertinent  in  it  that  even  the  Roman  Church 
has  put  upon  it  its  imprimatur. 


*  Health  and  Holiness;  A  Study  of  the  Relations  between  Brother  Ass, 
the  Body,  and  his  Rider,  the  Soul,  pp.  21-23. 


60       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

II 

The  mystics  of  the  past  felt  the  necessity  of 
suppressing  the  body.  To-day  another  need 
has  appeared.  The  body  needs  reenforcement, 
in  order  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  spirit. 
Accordingly,  there  has  arisen  a  new  type  of 
mysticism,  whose  emphasis  is  upon  health,  the 
toning  up  of  the  body,  just  as  the  emphasis  of 
mediaeval  mysticism  was  upon  asceticism,  the 
toning  down  of  the  body.  The  rise  and  rapid 
development  of  this  new  health  mysticism  is 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  phenomena  in 
the  religious  life  of  our  time.  And  yet  it  might 
have  been  foreseen.  At  least  the  rise  of  some 
new  form  of  mysticism  might  have  been 
anticipated  as  a  reaction  from  the  prevailing 
externalism,  orthodoxism-versus-liberalism,  and 
denominationalism  of  the  American  churches. 
For  generations  the  church  has  been  inviting 
the  paralysis  which  has  now  seized  her  by 
devoting  herself  all  too  largely  to  mere  church 
propagandism,  losing  her  life  message  in  shib- 
boleths, showing  more  concern  for  herself  than 
for  humanity.  From  this  selfishness  there  are 
signs  that  she  is  now  waking.  Meanwhile  she  has 
very  largely  lost  not  only  the  laboring  people, 
but  many  educated  people  who  are  longing  for 
a  spiritual  life  they  are  failing  to  find  in  the 
church.   Hence  the  rise  of  the  new  mystic  cults. 


HEALTH  MYSTICISM  61 

The  new  Health  Mysticism,  made  up  of 
Christian  Science,  the  New  Thought,  Theos- 
ophy,  and  kindred  cults,  is  a  singular  com- 
posite. A  writer  in  the  Hibbert  Journal,  Mrs. 
Stuart  Moore,  gives  its  constituents  as  follows: 
"To  mingle  Buddhism,  Christianity,  magic, 
physical  culture,  and  feeble  metaphysics  and 
make  with  these  ingredients  a  faith  whose 
chief  rewards  shall  be  health  and  wealth — 
heaven  here  and  now  indeed — seems  a  consider- 
able task;  but  the  Higher  Thought  has  managed 
it."^  William  James  analyzed  its  contents  as 
follows:  the  four  Gospels,  Emersonianism, 
Berkeleyan  idealism,  spiritism,  popular  science, 
evolutionism,  and  Hinduism.*  To  these  should 
be  added  the  new  psychology.  James  reached 
the  well-known  conclusion  that  "the  spread  of 
the  movement  has  been  due  to  practical  fruits, 
and  the  extremely  practical  turn  of  the  American 
people  has  never  been  better  shown  than  by  the 
fact  that  this,  their  only  decidedly  original  con- 
tribution to  the  systematic  philosophy  of  life, 
should  be  so  intimately  knit  up  with  concrete 
therapeutics."^ 

Next  to  its  "concrete  therapeutics,"  the  most 
marked  feature  of  the  movement  is  its  diluted 
metaphysics.     This  appears  especially  in  Mrs. 

»  Magic  and  Mysticism  of  To-day,  vol.  vi,  2,  p.  381 
■•  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  p.  94. 
» Ibid.,  p.  96. 


62       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Eddy's  Science  and  Health.  If  it  were  mere 
metaphysics,  it  would,  of  course,  have  no 
standing,  but  it  is  metaphysics  devoted  to  a 
practical  end.  As  such  it  has  power,  because 
it  has  seized  a  great  truth,  however  crudely, 
and  turned  it  to  religious  uses.  It  is  much  the 
same  truth  that  Dionysius  and  Erigena  and 
Eckhart  laid  hold  of  from  Neoplatonism  and 
that  through  them  prevailed  among  the  mystics 
of  earlier  ages — the  doctrine  of  the  Absolute  as 
the  Fundamental  Reality.  To  come  into  rela- 
tion with  this  Reality,  to  realize  its  presence 
and  its  power,  and  thus  to  escape  the  poverty 
and  loneliness  and  weakness  of  our  separate 
lives — this  (next  to  concrete  therapeutics)  is 
the  main  object  of  the  new  cults,  as  it  has  been 
of  mysticism  in  all  the  ages.  "That  great  cen- 
tral fact  in  human  life,"  says  Ralph  Waldo 
Trine  in  his  In  Tune  with  the  Infinite,  "in 
your  life  and  in  mine  is  the  coming  into  a  con- 
scious, vital  realization  of  our  oneness  with  this 
Infinite  Life,  and  the  opening  of  ourselves  to  this 
Divine  overflow."  Nor  is  it  an  unreasonable 
assumption  that  such  unison  with  the  Infinite 
normalizes  the  physical  self  and  brings  it  into 
accord  with  the  spirit  life.  Thus  Brother  Ass 
turns  to  a  Pegasus  and  bears  the  soul  onward 
with  winged  ease.  Psychology  has  given  its 
unqualified  testimony  to  the  beneficial  effects 


HEALTH  MYSTICISM  63 

of  a  religiously  composed  temper  upon  both 
brain  and  body.  Thus  far,  at  least,  the  new 
health  mysticism  has  a  true  raison  d'etre, 

m 

Everyone  who  cares  for  the  furtherance  of 
the  spiritual  life  has  reason  to  hail  this  recent 
mushroom  mysticism,  as  a  fresh  indication  of 
the  unquenchable  longing  of  the  human  heart 
for  the  Infinite.  Through  it  thousands  have 
found  their  way  into  fellowship  with  the  Love 
that  will  not  let  us  go.  By  its  fruits  we  may 
know  it.  The  very  last  to  condemn  Christian 
Science  or  New  Thought  should  be  the  church. 
If  it  has  done  what  the  church  has  failed  to 
do  for  myriads  of  persons,  she  should  be  glad 
and  ask  why.  If,  in  so  many  lives,  trust  and 
gentleness  and  kindness  have  taken  the  place 
of  fear  and  selfishness  and  discontent,  a  cause 
should  be  looked  for  adequate  to  the  results. 
Men  do  not  gather  grapes  of  thorns  or  figs  of 
thistles.  It  is  diflScult  to  overestimate  the 
blessing  which  this  movement  has  brought  to 
many  lives  in  driving  away  fear  and  false 
sorrow.  Yet  this  is  nothing  peculiar  or  new. 
For  instance,  from  the  diary  of  Father  John, 
a  priest  of  the  Eastern  Church,  "known  and 
served  in  every  nook  of  Russia,"  comes  this 
testimony  to  the  power  of  the  Divine  Presence: 


64       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

"Sorrow  is  the  death  of  the  heart  and  is  a  falHng 
away  from  God.  The  expansion,  the  peace  of 
head  and  heart  through  Hvely  faith  in  him 
proves  more  clearly  than  the  day  that  God  is 
constantly  present  near  me  and  that  he  dwells 
within  me."®  Some  grasp  must  have  been  made 
by  these  cults  of  divine  laws  and  forces.  Let 
us  inquire  a  little  further  into  their  secret. 

We  have  already  found  that  the  power  of 
these  mystic  cults  lies  in  the  realization  of  the 
Absolute  as  a  power  in  human  life,  though  it 
is  associated  by  them  with  so  crude  and  imper- 
fect a  metaphysic.  But  superficial  and  sono- 
rous as  is  their  metaphysic,  they  have  learned 
the  lesson  for  which  pragmatism  has  risen  up 
to  rebuke  philosophic  idealism  and  have  put 
their  metaphysical  creed  at  work.  They  have 
said  in  effect  to  "high-browed"  philosophical 
idealism :  You  have  long  been  familiar  with  the 
idea  of  the  Absolute,  but  you  have  treated  it 
too  much  as  your  own  possession;  you  have 
discussed  it  and  played  with  it  and  never 
found  any  life  values  in  it  or  given  it  to  your 
fellow  men  to  help  them  in  their  lives.  We,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  at  least  tested  its  values. 
We  have  said  to  suffering,  hard-pressed  men  and 
women:  The  Infinite  is  real;  avail  yourselves  of 
it,  realize  it,  rest  in  it. 

»  My  Life  in  Christ,  p.  10. 


HEALTH  MYSTICISM  65 

Surely,  this  is  rational,  logical,  and  thor- 
oughly worth  while.  This  is  the  way  to  use 
truth  and  to  prove  it  to  be  truth,  though  not 
the  way  to  make  it  truth.  For  this  we  may 
thank  the  new  mysticism  and  challenge  philos- 
ophy, as  did  William  James,  to  come  down 
from  the  heights  and  make  itself  felt  in  every- 
day life.  Naturalistic  and  mechanistic  theories 
will  find  it  hard  to  overthrow  the  adherents  of 
Christian  Science  and  New  Thought.  They 
have  found  a  satisfying  reality  and  have 
afforded  a  new  demonstration  of  the  security 
and  power  of  the  spirit  life. 

IV 

Why  not,  then,  welcome  this  rest-in-the- 
Absolute,  health-happiness,  Hindu-Emersonian 
mysticism  as  the  spiritual  enlightenment  and 
reenforcement  that  we  so  greatly  need  to-day  .^^ 
If  it  has  laid  hold  of  vital  truth  and  demon- 
strated its  salutary  effects,  why  not  turn  to  it 
as  a  finality? 

In  the  first  place,  because  of  its  intellectual 
weakness  and  heterogeneity.  It  has  neither  the 
depth  and  earnestness  of  Hinduism,  nor  the 
breadth  and  poise  of  Emersonianism,  nor  the 
keenness  and  insight  of  Berkeleyanism.  There 
have  been  no  creative  minds  connected  with 
it.    Science  and  Health  is  too  crude  a  piece  of 


66       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

metaphysical  mechanics  to  impress  any  but 
the  neophyte.  The  system  of  Dionysius,  or 
Erigena,  or  Jacob  Boehme  towers  above  the 
writings  of  this  school  as  a  Gothic  cathedral 
above  a  doll-house.  Not  that  there  are  not 
thoughtful  writers  who  have  contributed  to  it, 
and  thoughtful  people  who  have  been  drawn 
to  it.  Indeed,  it  takes  a  certain  above-the- 
average  grade  of  intelligence  to  get  anything 
from  this  new  mysticism.  But  it  has  neither 
the  strength  of  true  simplicity  nor  the  wealth 
of  true  profundity.  A  faith  to  satisfy  the  heart 
must  not  offend  the  head.  Mysticism  is  first 
of  all  an  experience;  but  unless  the  experience 
produces  an  interpretation  that  commands  the 
intellect,  it  argues  a  limitation  in  the  experience. 
Either  let  the  new  faith  be  silent,  so  far  as 
interpretation  is  concerned,  or  else  let  it  speak 
worthily  and  win  our  intellectual  respect.  If 
it  will  be  metaphysical,  let  it  rise  to  the  level 
of  genuine  metaphysics.  No  one  can  enter 
heartily  and  permanently  into  a  faith  with  his 
mind's  eye  winking  at  it. 

Moreover,  the  Christian  Science-New 
Thought  Mysticism  is  deficient  because  of  its 
moral  incompetence  and  one-sidedness.  It 
deliberately  chooses  to  see  but  one  side  of  life. 
"To  see  life  steadily  and  see  it  whole"  is  no 
part  of  its  desire.    It  closes  its  eyes  to  the  dark 


HEALTH  MYSTICISM  '  67 

side  of  life.  This  is  far  better  than  to  make 
too  much  of  the  dark  side.  But  Christianity  is 
braver  and  broader  than  this,  and  dares  to 
look  fearlessly  and  deeply  into  life  as  it  is, 
through  the  eyes  of  the  Christ.  Its  deceptive 
rose-coloring  of  life  gives  to  this  entire  move- 
ment an  atmosphere  of  unreality  and  dilet- 
tanteism  which  removes  it  from  the  stern  arena 
of  life  as  it  is,  and  makes  of  it  a  parlor  philos- 
ophy. Not  so  did  the  greater  mystics  look 
upon  life.  The  optimism  of  Augustine  and 
Saint  Francis,  Luther  and  Wesley,  George  Fox 
and  John  Tauler  was  of  another  sort  than  this. 
Human  evil  and  sin  cannot  be  driven  from  life 
by  thinking  them  away.  They  must  be  lived 
and  suffered  out  of  existence.  That  is  a  truth 
that  lies  close  to  the  heart  of  Christianity,  and 
its  symbol  is  the  cross. 

V 

Finally,  the  mysticism  we  are  discussing 
reveals  its  inherent  inconsistency  and  shallow- 
ness by  its  inordinate  emphasis  upon  physical 
health.  A  mysticism  which  so  confuses  and 
misinterprets  values  cannot  be  a  consistent 
mysticism.  It  is  not,  as  has  already  been 
said,  that  this  school  is  wrong  in  holding  that 
a  mind  in  harmony  with  the  Infinite  may  act 
with  almost  miraculous  effect  upon  the  body. 


G8       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

That  was  a  leading  truth  in  early  Christianity, 
and  the  church  has  been  guilty  of  unfaith,  as 
of  folly,  in  losing  it.^  But  to  make  health  an 
end,  instead  of  a  means,  in  the  life  of  the  spirit 
is  treason  to  personality. 

Mrs.  Stuart  Moore,  though  unduly  severe  in 
her  criticism  of  this  movement,  is  not  without 
grounds  for  saying:  "A  religion  such  as  this, 
which  frankly  declares  that  the  first  and  only 
concern  of  the  believer  is  with  himself,  with 
the  prevention  of  his  own  ills,  the  increase  of 
his  own  income,  the  recognition  of  his  own 
Divine  Principle  waiting  within  his  own  solar 
plexus  ...  is  sure  at  the  present  time  to  be 
popular.  It  is,  of  course,  the  antithesis  of  mys- 
ticism, as  the  mystics  understood  that  science  of 
love."« 

The  fact  is,  as  the  early  mystic  ascetics  saw, 
that  mere  animal  health  is  as  foreign  to  the 
spirit  life  as  are  infirmity  and  illness.  The 
best  medium  for  the  life  of  the  spirit  is  neither 
rampant,  irrepressible  physical  health  nor  physi- 
cal pain  and  weakness,  but  a  steady,  controlled, 
well-expended  vitality,  a  state  in  which  body 
and  spirit  are  in  full  accord. 

To  secure  and  maintain  the  physical  con- 


7  For  a  competent,  well-balanced  discussion  of  the  relation  of  healing 
to  the  work  of  the  church  consult  Weaver's  Mind  and  Health,  especially 
the  last  three  chapters. 

»Artidecit.,v-  385. 


HEALTH  MYSTICISM  09 

dition  in  which  mind  and  spirit  can  reach  their 
highest  development  and  do  their  best  and 
largest  service,  should  certainly  be  one  of  the 
aims  of  a  true  life  philosophy.  But  if  the 
spirit  cannot  rise  above  physical  conditions  and 
make  spiritual  harvest  of  ill-health  and  infirm- 
ity, it  has  nothing  to  attest  its  supremacy.  As 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson  so  conclusively  put  it: 
''The  truest  health  is  to  be  able  to  get  on  with- 
out it." 

A  history  of  the  spiritual  development  of 
humanity  would  show  that  sickness  has  played 
an  inestimable  part  in  forwarding  religious 
experience.  Loyola,  Saint  Francis,  Luther, 
Chalmers,  John  Woolman,  Frederick  Robert- 
son, R.  L.  Stevenson,  are  only  random  instances 
of  men  to  whom  sickness  has  been  the  gateway 
to  a  larger  life.  Brother  Lawrence  was  doubt- 
less an  extremist  in  holding  our  pains  to  be 
tokens  of  the  divine  love,  but  they  can  be 
made  channels  for  the  reception  of  the  divine 
love,  as  well  as  means  of  self-development. 

In  Woolman's  Journal  is  an  interesting 
entry  in  which  he  states  that  having  been  taken 
ill,  a  cry  arose  in  him  that  he  "might  know  the 
cause  of  his  affliction  and  improve  under  it." 
Having  discerned,  as  he  thought,  the  cause  in 
"conformity  to  some  customs  which  I  believed 
were  not  right,"  he  adds:    "Feeling  the  desire 


70       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

of  further  purifying,  there  was  now  no  desire 
in  me  for  health  until  the  design  of  my  cor- 
rection was  answered.  Thus  I  lay  in  abase- 
ment and  brokenness  of  spirit,  and  as  I  felt  a 
sinking  dowTi  into  a  calm  resignation,  so  I  felt 
as  in  an  instant,  an  inward  healing  in  my 
nature,  and  from  that  time  forward  I  grew 
better." 

Among  the  purest,  bravest,  ripest  characters 
in  every  community  are  those  victorious  invalids 
who  are  making  the  largest  draughts  daily  upon 
the  divine  grace  and  power,  but  who  do  not 
get  well,  and  probably  never  will.  For  Chris- 
tian Science  practitioners  to  hold  out  the 
promise  of  health  to  such  saints  on  the  ground 
of  conformity  to  certain  spiritual  prescriptions 
of  their  own  is  crass  presumption.  They 
should  themselves  go  to  such  demonstrators  of 
the  spirit  life  to  learn  what  courage  and  patience, 
victory  over  self  and  invincible  trust  in  the 
Eternal,  mean.  Spiritual  health,  primary,  indis- 
pensable, and  always  attainable;  physical  health, 
secondary  and  desirable,  but  not  always  attain- 
able, is  the  only  principle  that  conserves  spir- 
itual values. 

VI 

What  we  need  is  not  so  much  a  new  health 

sticism  as  a  new  heart  mysticism,  a  new 

influx  of  love,  a  freshened  sense  of  the  greatness 


HEALTH  MYSTICISM  71 

and  joy  of  life  in  a  world  in  which  infinite 
resources  of  power  and  progress  are  at  work, 
a  new  realization  of  the  inestimable  worth  of 
personality  and  the  possibilities  of  personal  and 
social  achievement. 

It  is  too  late  in  the  day  of  human  progress 
for  humanity  to  be  fooled  with  superstition  or 
dazzled  with  an  irrational  super-naturalism. 
That  which  men  are  hungry  for  is  a  sane  and 
heartfelt  mysticism.^  They  want  contact  with 
spiritual  realities.  When  the  doctrinal  and 
ecclesiastical  debris  is  more  thoroughly  swept 
away  from  Christianity  it  will  be  found  that 
here,  and  not  in  any  other  religion  or  cult, 
new  or  old,  is  the  satisfaction  of  the  craving  of 
the  soul.  The  mysticism  that  emanated  from 
Jesus  and  centers  in  him  as  the  incarnation  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  has  power  to  rejuvenate  our 
age  as  it  did  that  Grgeco-Roman  age  which 
ours  so  much  resembles. 

Ever  since  its  wane  in  the  second  century  the 
mystical  element  of  Christianity  has  been  more 
or  less  obscured.  It  has  emerged  now  and  again 
in  restorative  movements  and  in  responsive 
individuals  and  groups,  but  only  to  be  again 
too  largely  smothered  under  dogmatism  and 
ecclesiasticism.    There  are  not  wanting  signs — 

9  It  cannot  but  be  evident,  even  to  the  outsider,  that  the  hold,  for 
example,  of  Free  Masonry  lies  largely  in  the  appeal  to  the  mystical. 


72       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

such  as  this  very  uprising  of  the  new  health 
mysticism — that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  fresh 
realization  of  mystical  truth  and  power.  If 
so,  it  will  mean  the  influx  of  a  mighty  tide  of 
spiritual  life,  and  with  it  power  for  that  indi- 
vidual and  social  advance  which  awaits  some 
commanding  impulse  greater  than  we  now  are 
using. 


CHAPTER  III 

COSMIC  MYSTICISM 

Mysticism  has  been  too  long  regarded  as  a 
seven  days'  wonder,  or  else  ignored  as  identi- 
fied with  certain  bizarre  or  esoteric  doctrines, 
phenomena,  and  practices.  The  time  has  come 
to  go  beneath  the  surface  and  try  to  under- 
stand more  fully  its  deeper  motives  and  under- 
lying principles. 

I 

Not  long  ago  an  English  army  officer  of  active 
life.  Sir  Francis  Younghusband,  was  injured  by 
a  motor-car — one  of  those  yet  unsubdued  foes 
of  mysticism — and  suddenly  found  himself 
faced  with  the  necessity  of  adjustment  to  a 
new  order  of  experience,  a  new  world.  Out  of 
long  suffering  and  reflection  came  a  book  from 
him  entitled  Within,  in  which  he  commented 
as  follows  upon  the  meaning  of  life: 

Of  the  existence  of  a  Holy  Spirit  radiating 
upward  through  all  animate  beings,  and  finding 
its  fullest  expression  in  man  in  love,  and  in  the 
flowers  in  beauty,  we  can  be  as  certain  as  of  . 
anything  in  the  world.  This  fiery  spiritual 
73 


74       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

impulsion  at  the  center  and  the  source  of  things, 
ever  burning  in  us,  is  the  supremely  important 
factor  in  our  existence.^ 

However  far  Colonel  Younghusband's  theology 
may  differ  from  that  of  the  mystics  in  general, 
his  attitude  and  conclusions  are  thoroughly 
mystical,  especially  his  revised  sense  of  values. 

After  all,  this  readjustment  of  values  is  the 
main  thing — the  turning  away  from  the  out- 
ward or  self-centered  life  to  the  inner,  and 
finding  there  supreme  reality  and  satisfaction. 
This  is  the  ever-recurrent  note  in  the  mysticism 
of  the  ages — quiet,  deep,  wondering  joy  in  the 
unseen  and  eternal. 

Whether  we  of  to-day  have  ever  had  religious 
experiences  at  all  approaching  in  intensity  those 
of  the  great  mystics  or  not,  there  is  a  strange 
sense — strange.'^ — a  home  feeling,  rather — of 
spiritual  reality  that  comes  to  most  of  us  at 
times,  accompanying  an  insight  into  a  world 
ordinarily  closed.  "Openings"  the  mystics  some- 
times called  these  experiences.  "Fallings  from 
us,  vanishings,"  Wordsworth  named  them.  They 
are  times  when,  as  Plato  said,  "on  a  sudden  one 
beholds  a  beauty  wonderful  in  its  nature." 
These  experiences,  swift,  subtle,  inexpressible, 
vary  greatly  with  different  individuals. 

» Hibbert  Journal,  vol.  xi,  3,  p.  690. 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  75 

Sometimes  they  are  closely  associated  with 
nature.  I  recall,  as  I  write,  two  descriptions 
of  mystical  experience  which  I  have  heard 
from  friends,  one  a  vision  of  Infinite  Beauty  in 
the  early  morning  on  the  shores  of  a  mountain 
lake,  the  other  occurring  on  the  summit  of  a 
peak  in  the  Sierra  where  there  came,  in  that 
mountain  wilderness  such  a  sense  of  expan- 
sion, of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  Being,  that 
the  memory  of  it  has  been  a  vivid  and  sustain- 
ing influence  ever  since.  A  similar  experience 
on  the  seashore  is  cited  by  William  James,  in 
which  the  experient  expressed  herself  as  follows : 
"To  return  from  the  solitude  of  individuation 
into  the  consciousness  of  unity  with  all  that  is, 
to  kneel  down  as  one  that  passes  away  and  to 
rise  up  as  one  imperishable.  Earth,  heaven 
and  sea  resounded  as  in  one  vast  world-en- 
circling harmony. "2  Goethe's  experience  in  the 
Harz  mountains,  when,  thrilled  by  the  ascent 
of  the  Brocken,  he  cried,  "I  bring  my  sacrifice 
to  the  Being  of  all  Beings,"  is  a  striking  instance 
of  nature  illumination.  "From  that  time  on," 
says  one  of  his  biographers,  "he  felt  himself  to 
be  one  loved  by  God  and  led  by  God."'  But 
it  does  not  require  an  unusual  and  impressive 


2  Varieties  of  Religions  Experience,  p.  395. 

»  For  a  further  account  of  this  incident,  see  Oscar  Kuhns's  The  Sense  of 
the  Infinite,  p.  60. 


76       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

scene  to  awaken  these  mystical  states.  They 
may  be  connected  with  some  very  humble  and 
common  thing — a  flower  by  the  wayside,  a 
ray  of  sunshine,  a  glimpse  of  blue  sky,  a  bit  of 
symmetry  or  brightness  anywhere. 

That  sensitive  nature  mystic  Richard  Jef- 
fries, in  The  Story  of  My  Heart,  describes  an 
experience  of  his  as  follows: 

I  was  utterly  alone  with  the  sun  and  the 
earth.  Lying  down  on  the  grass,  I  spoke  in 
my  soul  to  the  earth,  the  sun,  the  air,  and  the 
distant  sea  far  beyond  sight.  I  thought  of  the 
earth's  firmness;  I  felt  it  bear  me  up;  through 
the  grassy  couch  there  came  an  influence  as  if 
I  could  feel  the  great  earth  speaking  to  me.  I 
thought  of  the  wandering  air,  its  pureness  which 
is  its  beauty;  the  air  touched  me  and  gave  me 
something  of  itself.  By  all  these  I  prayed;  I 
felt  an  emotion  of  the  soul  beyond  all  defini- 
tion. ...  I  hid  my  face  in  the  grass,  I  was 
wholly  prostrated,  I  lost  myself  in  the  wrestle, 
I  was  rapt  and  carried  away.  .  .  .  Having 
drunk  deeply  of  the  heaven  above  and  felt  the 
most  glorious  beauty  of  the  day,  and  remem- 
bering the  old,  old  sea,  which  (as  it  seemed  to 
me)  was  but  yonder  at  the  edge,  I  now  became 
lost,  and  absorbed  into  the  being  or  existence 
of  the  universe.  [Yet  this  absorption  did  not 
involve  the  loss  of  selfhood.]  Recognizing  my 
own  inner  consciousness,  the  psyche  [he  con- 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  77 

tinues],  so  clearly,  death  did  not  seem  to  me 
to  affect  the  personality* 

But  these  inrushes  of  feeling  and  insight  are 
by  no  means  invariably  associated  with  nature. 
More  often  still  they  come  through  the  touch  of 
another  personality.  It  was  thus  that  the  dis- 
ciples of  Gautama  and  those  of  Jesus  and  of 
other  great  vitalizing  personalities  received  their 
mystical  transformations.  Even  characters  who 
are  far  from  ideal  have  been  the  means  of 
imparting  a  kind  of  mystic  inspiration  by  no 
means  momentary  in  its  effects.  A  person  who 
once  made  a  brief  call  on  Walt  Whitman  stated 
that,  as  a  result,  he  became  "plainly  different 
from  his  ordinary  self,"  and  that  this  brief  con- 
tact with  the  poet  became  a  permanent  ele- 
ment in  his  life,  "a  strong  and  living  force, 
making  for  purity  and  happiness."^ 

The  author  of  Cosmic  Consciousness,  Dr. 
Richard  Maurice  Bucke,  who  relates  the  inci- 
dent concerning  Whitman,  describes  his  own 
illumination  as  follows: 

It  was  in  the  early  spring,  at  the  beginning 
of  his  thirty-sixth  year.  [Dr.  Bucke  speaks  of 
himself  in  the  third  person.]  He  and  two  friends 
had  spent  the  evening  reading  Wordsworth, 
Shelley,  Keats,  Browning,  and  especially  Whit- 


*  See  Cosmic  Consciousness,  pp.  264,  265. 
s  Ilnd.,  p.  80. 


78       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

man.  They  parted  at  midnight,  and  he  had  a 
long  drive  in  a  hansom  [it  was  in  an  English 
city].  His  mind,  deeply  under  the  influence  of 
the  ideas,  images,  and  emotions  called  up  by 
the  reading  and  talk  of  the  evening,  was  calm 
and  peaceful.  He  was  in  a  state  of  quiet,  almost 
passive  enjoyment.  All  at  once,  without  warn- 
ing of  any  kind,  he  found  himself  wrapped 
around,  as  it  were,  by  a  flame-colored  cloud. 
For  an  instant  he  thought  of  fire,  some  sudden 
conflagration  in  the  great  city;  the  next  he  knew 
that  the  light  was  within  himself.  Directly 
after  came  upon  him  a  sense  of  exultation,  of 
immense  joyousness  accompanied  by,  or  im- 
mediately followed  by,  an  intellectual  illumi- 
nation quite  impossible  to  describe.  Into  his 
brain  streamed  one  momentary  lightning  flash 
of  the  Brahmic  splendor  which  has  ever  since 
lightened  his  life;  upon  his  heart  fell  one  drop 
of  Brahmic  bliss,  leaving  thenceforward  for 
always  an  after  taste  of  heaven.  Among  other 
things  he  did  not  come  to  believe,  he  saw  and 
knew  that  the  Cosmos  is  not  dead  matter  but 
a  living  Presence,  that  the  soul  of  man  is 
immortal,  that  the  universe  is  so  built  and 
ordered  that  without  any  peradventure  all 
things  work  together  for  the  good  of  each  and  all, 
that  the  foundation  principle  of  the  world  is 
that  we  call  love,  and  that  the  happiness  of 
everyone  is  in  the  long  run  absolutely  certain.® 


•  See  Cosmic  Consciousness,  pp.  7,  8. 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  79 

II 

The  accumulating  number  of  experiences  of 
this  kind  raises  a  problem  which  cannot  be 
avoided,  namely,  how  are  such  transformations 
as  these  related  to  the  distinctively  Christian 
mystical  experience?  Dr.  Bucke  throws  all 
such  experiences  together,  without  distinction 
or  evaluation.  Gautama,  Jesus,  Paul,  Plotinus, 
Dante,  Shakespeare  (Bacon),  Jacob  Boehme, 
Balzac,  Walt  Whitman,  Edward  Carpenter 
share,  in  his  view,  the  ''cosmic  consciousness'' — 
which  he  explains  in  terms  of  nature  and  of 
dual  selfhood.  The  confusion  increases  when, 
among  the  partial  experients  of  cosmic  con- 
sciousness, he  brings  together  such  contrasted 
children  of  the  Spirit  as  Gideon  and  Isaiah, 
Thoreau  and  Charles  G.  Finney,  Pascal  and 
Richard  Jeffries,  Roger  Bacon  and  Spinoza. 

There  certainly  would  seem  to  be  a  common 
factor  in  the  experience  of  all  these  mystics, 
however  varied;  and  the  list  might  be  indef- 
initely enlarged.  There  is  the  same  shift  of 
values  from  the  outer  to  the  inner,  from  the 
lower  self  to  the  higher,  from  things  to  Some- 
thing back  of  them.  As  a  result  a  new  light, 
supernal,  spiritual,  falls  upon  everything.  There 
is  in  all  cases  a  sense  of  expansion;  hope  and 
love  assert  themselves;  optimism  rules.  The 
recipient  feels  that  he  has  passed  from  death 


80       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERX  LIFE 

unto  life  because  he  loves — whether  it  be  the 
brethren,  or  the  race,  or  the  cosmos,  or  God, 
or  the  All. 

The  lover's  tale,  at  its  best,  is  not  far  dif- 
ferent. In  his  case  there  is  an  elect  person 
who  represents  all  beauty,  truth,  and  good- 
ness, at  the  center  of  his  experience.  Yet  this 
other  is  more  than  a  single  individual.  The 
beloved  epitomizes  all  of  Being.  There  is  a 
going  forth  of  soul,  not  alone  to  this  one,  but 
to  nature,  to  humanity,  to  God.  It  is  an 
experience  that  makes  all  things  new  and  that 
does  not  pass  with  "love's  short  hours  and 
weeks."  If  there  is  any  word  that  expresses 
the  ineffable  character,  the  universality,  the 
other-worldliness  of  love,  it  is  the  word  "mys- 
tical." 

From  this  whole  sphere  of  experience,  how- 
ever varied  in  form,  the  term  "religious"  can 
hardly  be  withheld.  It  carries  us  back  to  the 
rudimentary  forms  of  primitive  religion.  In 
spite  of  the  close  relationship  to  the  physical, 
it  belongs  to  the  supernatural;  it  nourishes  the 
soul;  it  pertains  to  the  second  Adam,  the  Lord 
from  heaven.'     This  is  not  saying  that  every 

7  Roman  Catholic  theology,  of  course,  excludes  all  these  forms  of 
experience  from  the  rank  of  true  mysticism.  Thus,  A.  B.  Sharpe  writes: 
"For  a  confused  consciousness  of  the  di\'ine  or  the  supernatural,  as  sym- 
bolized or  suggested  by  certain  fragmentary  aspects  of  nature,  or  art,  or 
social  experience,  is  at  bottom  a  perfectly  different  thing  from  the  direct 
vision  of  and  intercourse  with  a  di\'ine  Person.     'I  talk  not  with  thy 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  81 

passing  response  to  the  glory  of  nature,  every 
momentary  admiration  for  a  great  personality, 
every  skin-deep  adoration  for  a  beautiful  face 
is  religious.  So  much  deeper  than  these  flit- 
ting approximations  to  it  is  a  real  mystical 
experience,  that  they  seem  hardly  more  than 
its  counterfeits. 

Ill 

"Cosmic  consciousness"  is  both  mystical  and 
religious.  Yet  it  is  hardly  the  highest  mys- 
ticism or  the  noblest  religion.  Certainly  it  is 
not  completely  Christian.  The  reason  is,  I 
should  say,  that  it  stops  short  of  the  fully 
personal,  both  in  character  and  in  conception. 
It  is  ennobling  and  releasing  to  enter  into  a 
deep  and  joyous  fellowship  with  nature,  or 
with  human  nature,  to  feel  the  currents  of 
divine  life  flowing  through  the  cosmos.  Such 
an  experience  is  not  only  mentally  but  (as  Dr. 
Bucke  points  out)  morally  ennobling.  Both 
nature  love  and  human  love  run  all  through 
Christian  mysticism,  as  we  have  seen,  as  a  rich 
and  tender  part  of  it.  Who  had  more  of  the 
cosmic  consciousness  than  Saint  Francis  .^^  The 
nature  communion   of   that  austere   Christian 


dreams,'  supernatural  mysticism  replies  to  the  imaginative  outpourings 
of  the  nature  mystic,  the  philanthropist,  or  the  lover"  (Mysticism,  pp. 
19.  20). 


82       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

mystic  Jonathan  Edwards  matches  Words- 
worth's. Both  strike  deeper  notes  than  are 
to  be  found  in  pantheism.  Such  nature  wor- 
ship is  not  less  than  pantheism,  but  more,  and 
corrects  it  by  transcending  it.  It  is  bathed  in 
dehght  of  personal  faith. 

So  too  with  that  communion  with  one's  own 
deeper  self,  of  which  extra-Christian  forms  of 
mysticism  make  so  much.  Such  self-communion 
is  found  in  wonderful  wealth  of  introspection 
in  Paul.  It  fills  the  literature  of  the  Friends  of 
God.  It  illumines  the  pages  of  the  Imitation. 
It  appears  richly  in  Jacob  Boehme.  And  yet, 
in  all  these  and  other  committed  Christian 
mystics,  there  is  a  recognition  of  the  union  of 
that  inner  self  with  a  Transcendent  Self,  a  con- 
sciousness of  God,  or  of  an  Indwelling  Christ, 
or  a  Divine  Spirit,  which  is  largely  lacking  in  the  . 
cosmic  mystics — whose  new  birth,  Dr.  Bucke 
insists,  must  take  place  in  the  early  months  of 
the  year  and  at  the  period  of  the  maturity  of 
the  natural  powers.  Such  a  view  looks  down- 
ward into  nature  for  the  genesis  of  the  true 
self,  rather  than  upward  into  the  realm  of  pure 
Personality,  where  alone  its  adequate  Source 
can  lie.  Cosmic  consciousness  suflSces  for  the 
sunny  day,  the  periods  of  health  and  content; 
but  before  some  cosmic  catastrophe  it  may 
suddenly   be   shivered   to   atoms,    leaving   the 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  83 

soul  groping  for  something  more  tangible  and 
firm.  This  has  been  the  experience  of  more 
than  one  possessor  of  the  cosmic  consciousness. 
Cosmic  emotion  vanishes,  and  the  heart  and 
flesh  cry  out  for  the  living  God.  Then  it  is 
only  the  help  of  his  countenance  that  restores 
the  disquieted  soul. 

Thus  we  find  in  Christian  mysticism  not  so 
much  a  repudiation  of  cosmic  mysticism  as  a 
fulfillment,  an  interpretation  of  it,  which  takes 
up  its  crude,  undeveloped,  half-pagan  insights 
and  impulses  and  carries  them  on  into  the  larger 
light  of  personality.  In  this  light  nature  is, 
seen,  not  as  God  himself,  but  as«a  revelation 
of  God;  its  beauty  the  symbolic  expression  of  a 
Personal  Spirit.  Love  for  other  persons  is  seen 
to  involve  love  of  the  Supreme  Person.  The 
self  within  us  is  recognized  not  as  a  second  ego, 
but  as  the  Divine  within  each  of  us,  the  Funke- 
lein  of  a  Great  Fire  above,  "Christ  in  you  the 
hope  of  glory." 

IV 

Mystical  experiences,  more  or  less  com- 
pletely Christian,  are,  I  am  convinced,  much 
more  general  and  frequent  than  is  ordinarily 
supposed.  A  considerable  number  of  the  men 
and  women  in  our  churches  are  of  the  mystical 
mind,  as  is  revealed  in  the  replies  to  the  ques- 


84       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

tionnaires  in  the  studies  in  the  psychology  of 
religion.  Professor  Pratt,  in  an  analysis  of 
one  of  his  questionnaires,  found  fifty-six  out 
of  seventy-seven  respondents  to  be  mystics. 
Trine's  policeman,  by  a  vision  splendid  upon 
his  beat  attended,  is  not  found  on  every  street 
corner,  yet  our  streets  might  be  safer,  as  well 
as  happier,  if  he  were.^  We  are  constantly 
coming  upon  the  mystically  minded,  as  Words- 
worth came  upon  the  leech-gatherer  on  the 
lonely  moor.  A  laundry  agent  once  said  to 
me  that  he  had  many  times  on  his  rounds  had 
such  an  experience  of  the  presence  of  God 
that  it  had  seemed  to  him  as  if  God  were  right 
on  the  wagon  seat  with  him!  The  crudeness 
of  the  conception  and  expression  of  some  of 
these  experiences  does  not  affect  their  validity. 
If  the  hearts  of  many  reserved  and  unexpres- 
sive  people  could  be  uncovered,  who  can  doubt 
that  many  a  hidden  mystic  experience  would 
be  revealed,  of  astonishing  tenderness  and 
depth? 

The  hardest  and  most  impervious  persons 
are  susceptible  at  rare  moments  to  these  incur- 
sions of  a  spiritual  world.  In  times  of  illness, 
or  when  the  departure  of  one  of  those  pure 
spirits  who  are  not  far  from  every  one  of  us 
brings  a  softening  sense  of  the  pervading  pres- 

*  See  James:  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  p.  393. 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  85 

ence  of  an  unseen  reality,  many  a  man  who 
seemed  to  others,  and  perhaps  to  himself,  but 
a  hard-headed,  common-sense  practicalist,  finds 
himself  in  the  atmosphere  of  another  world. 

The  striking  fact  about  these  experiences  is 
their  intense,  supersensuous  realism.  They 
make  the  everyday  world  of  material  interests 
seem  unreal  and  illusive  when  divorced  from 
this  deeper  reality.  They  enthrone  the  mystic 
sensibility  as  the  arbiter  of  reality,  making  it, 
as  Professor  James  said,  "the  function  of  the 
mystic  sense  to  distinguish  between  the  real 
and  the  seeming,  the  true  and  the  false,  in  the 
realm  of  the  spiritual  and  physically  intan- 
gible."« 

The  inclusiveness  with  which  we  have  swept 
into  the  ranks  of  the  mystics  so  many  of  the 
"good,  great  men"  of  the  race  and  are  now 
doing  the  same  with  the  unexceptional  and 
lowly,  "lost  in  love's  great  unity,"  makes  the 
query  a  pertinent  one:  Who,  then,  are  the 
non-mystics?  The  only  answer  we  can  make, 
consistent  with  our  entire  treatment  of  the 
subject,  is  that  the  mystical  sense,  being  normal 
and  human,  is  potentially  present  in  us  all. 
There  are  no  absolutely  nonmystical  persons 
except  the  abnormal  and  subhuman  and  those 
who  have  made  themselves  such — men  of  the 

•Principles  of  Psychology,  quoted  by  Weaver:  Mind  and  Health,  p.  202. 


86       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

ilk  of  Bluebeard,  Sancho  Panza,  Shylock, 
Richard  III,  Peter  Bell,  Uriah  Heep,  and — 
shall  we  add? — "the  self-made  man."  Many 
a  man  appears  to  be  harder  than  a  flint  until — . 
Remember  Scrooge! 

A  rheumatic  son  of  France  who  lives  on  the 
hilltop  above  me,  betrays  no  token  of  mys- 
ticism either  in  his  appearance  or  his  con- 
versation. Yet  each  Sunday  and  holiday,  as 
I  glance  toward  his  house,  I  see  his  adopted 
flag  flying  bravely  in  the  breeze  and  say  to 
myself,  "He  too  is  a  son  of  Abraham."  Wher- 
ever you  find  idealism,  outreach  toward  the 
higher  life,  there  is  something  of  the  mystical. 
"From  of  old,"  says  Schleiermacher,  "all  truly 
religious  characters  have  had  a  mystical  trait. "^" 
Professor  James  identifies  mysticism  with 
faith : 

The  operation  of  the  mystic  sense  is  summed 
up  in  the  simple  word  "faith.".  .  .  Faith  covers 
the  whole  working  of  the  mystic  sense,  provided 
it  is  not  restricted  to  a  severely  religious  mean- 
ing. In  its  distinctively  religious  meaning  faith 
is  the  operation  of  the  mystic  sense  in  its  highest 
employment.  It  works  amid  ideas  and  ideals. 
It  is  at  once  a  supersense  and  a  subsense.  The 
normal  use  of  this  sense  does  not  make  a  man 
a   mystic.     The   healthily   developed   man   is 


i**  Addresses,  translated  by  Oman,  p.  132. 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  87 

mystical,  though  not  a  mystic.     His  dominating 
sense  is  that  of  the  spirit,  not  that  of  the  flesh. *^ 

Just  what  degree  of  the  mystic  sense  it  takes 
to  make  a  mystic,  James  does  not  say;  but  the 
distinction  seems  to  be  a  just  one,  though  not 
easily  applied.  Often  one  feels  a  mystical  vein 
in  reticent,  incommunicative  persons  and  is 
at  a  loss  to  account  for  it  until  he  chances  to 
see  them  at  work;  then  the  fineness,  the  skill, 
the  devotion,  with  which  they  do  their  work 
betrays  the  secret. 

The  trouble  is  that  while  the  mystic  sense 
is  so  general,  so  deep-seated,  so  human,  in  most 
persons  it  is  hardly  more  than  germinal. ^^ 
Other  qualities  are  disproportionately  devel- 
oped. Shrewd  selfishness,  love  of  ease,  the 
animal  nature,  is  too  often  uppermost.  There 
is  far  from  enough  of  the  mystical  in  our 
literature,  our  philosophy,  our  theology,  our 
everyday  life.  This  is  not  a  fault  of  our  day 
alone;  it  has  always  been  so.  As  we  look  back 
over  the  history  of  human  life  anjl  thought  we 
can  see  how  the  suppression  of  mysticism  in 
many  influential  minds  has  fostered  and  per- 


il Principles  of  Psychology,  vol.  ii,  pp.  289ff;.  quoted  by  Weaver,  Mind 
and  Health,  p.  202. 

12  "Man,  unless  he  abdicates  his  manhood,  a  task  so  diflBcult  as  to  verge 
on  the  impossible,  must  live  by  his  mystic  sense;  he  must  keep  in  touch 
with  the  unseen  or  cease  to  be  a  man"  (Bishop  Brent,  The  Sixth  Sense, 
p.  87). 


88       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

petuated  hard  and  repressive  types  of  thought 
and  Hfe.  Such  relative  non-mystics  as  Pyrrho, 
Democritus,  Hume,  Locke,  Voltaire,  Spencer, 
in  philosophy;  Arius,  Pelagius,  Abelard,  Domi- 
nic, Socinus,  Calvin,  the  Westminster  Divines, 
Priestley,  in  theology,  although  they  have 
served  to  liberate,  clarify,  and  fortify  thought, 
reveal  to  us  how  chill  and  barren  our  thought- 
world  would  be  if  such  minds  alone  ruled  it, 
lacking  the  ardor  and  insight  of  mysticism  with 
its 

Desires  and  Adorations, 
Winged  Persuasions  and  veiled  Destinies, 
Splendors  and  Glooms  and  glimmering  Incar- 
nations.^^ 

If  we  owe  much  to  the  sharp,  clear  light  of  the 
winter  of  intellectualism,  cutting  off  so  many 
needless  and  overluxuriant  growths,  we  owe 
inestimably  more  to  the  warm,  tender,  summer 
light  of  mysticism,  in  which  all  that  is  best 
blooms  and  fruits. 


Personal  testimony  is  perhaps  not  out  of 
place  here.  The  writer  feels  bound  to  break 
through  the  reserve  with  which  most  of  us 
prefer  to  guard  personal  experiences,  to  state 

"  Shelley,  Adonais,  canto  xiii. 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  89 

that,  though  by  nature  and  training  an  intel- 
lectualist,  as  far  back  as  he  can  remember  he 
has  had  what  perhaps  might  be  called,  if  not 
illuminations,  inward  exhilarations,  bringing 
with  them  the  deepest  sense  of  reality  and 
inner  joy,  which,  whatever  their  cause  or 
explanation,  have  greatly  enhanced  the  mean- 
ing and  zest  of  life.  Perhaps  the  best  description 
that  could  be  given  of  these  experiences  would 
be  to  compare  them  to  the  sudden  lightening  of 
the  sky  on  a  gray  day,  the  falling  of  the  sun- 
shine at  your 'feet,  as  if  it  were  meant,  not  for 
you  apart  and  exclusively,  but  nevertheless  for 
you  as  a  particular  self,  with  your  own  power 
to  receive  and  appropriate  its  message. 

These  experiences  are  accompanied  both  by 
clearness  of  vision  and  warmth  of  feeling,  as 
if  there  were  a  sudden  uncovering  of  the  world 
of  the  spirit,  letting  one  see  into  "the  soul  of 
things."  Ill:  these  hours  nature  becomes  not 
a  mere  assemblage  of  outer  objects,  mute, 
meaningless,  prosaic,  but  symbolic,  lambent 
with  spiritual  flame;  and  men,  women,  and 
children  not  the  mere  puppets  that  they  often 
seem,  engaged  with  nonentities,  absorbed  in  a 
ceaseless  round  of  mediocre,  sordid  trifles,  but 
clothed  in  the  dignity  and  grace  of  immortal 
spirits,  caught  and  held  for  a  little  with  things, 
thrown   down   by   obstacles,   drawn   aside   by 


90       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

allurements,  some  of  them  bound  hand  and 
foot  by  evil,  but,  on  the  whole,  moving  with 
an  almost  inevitable  attraction  to  a  great  and 
high  and  beiautiful  destiny/^ 

I  have  asked  myself  if  these  can  be  mere 
dreams,  fancies,  auto-suggestions,  exhalations 
of  physical  happiness  and  fortunate  environ- 
ment. But  they  fail  to  conform  to  these  expla- 
nations. Closely  connected  though  they  are 
with  physical  .conditions  and  surroundings, 
they  steal  in  sometimes  with  redoubled  splendor 
after  long  absence,  in  darkened  days  and  periods 
of  physical  untowardness.  In  the  dreariness 
following  failure  and  disappointment  and  loss, 
swiftly,  subtly — perhaps  in  the  night — a  surge 
of  courage  and  hope  flows  in  upon  one;  as  if 
the  elixir  of  an  immortal  strength  were  being 
poured  into  the  soul.  I  have  tried  to  put 
myself,  in  imagination,  in  outward  conditions 
entirely  alien  and  inhospitable  to  these  experi- 
ences— life  in  a  factory,  for  instance,  and  a 
tenement  house,  where  I  would  be  sunshine- 
starved,  beauty-bereft,  cut  off  from  books,  art, 
society,  everything.  Would  these  deprivations, 
even  if  I  had  been  brought  up  under  them, 
have  shut  me  away  from  all  mystical  experi- 
ence?     Would    not    Beauty    have    some    way 

14  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  I  am  attempting  to  give  here  only 
a  fragment  of  personal  experience  and  that  I  am  not  touching  the  more 
definitely  Christian  side  of  it. 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  91 

taught  me  its  mystic  secret?  Would  not  the 
vision  of  the  Perfect  have  arisen  through  all 
the  dust  and  dreariness?  Would  not  the 
Presence  that  besets  us  behind  and  before  have 
found  me?  I  cannot  tell,  but  it  seems  to  me 
so.  Is  it  only  one's  "disposition"  that  opens  to 
him  these  influences?  Have  not  millions  of 
one's  fellows,  with  dispositions  unlike  his  own, 
similar  experiences?  And  might  not  others, 
who  are  without  them,  have  them? 

Often  these  renewals  of  spirit  come  through 
nature,  when  it  seems  as  if  every  grass-blade 
and  shrub  and  leaf  were  sensitized  with  spiritual 
healing  and  vitality.  Sometimes  a  human  hand 
serves  to  convey  the  chrism;  sometimes  it 
comes  in  solitude,  with  no  apparent  medium. 
All  this  is  common  enough.  Ten  thousand 
poets  have  felt  and  expressed  it,  or  tried;  mil- 
lions have  felt  something  of  it  and  have  never 
tried  to  express  it.  The  very  commonness  of 
the  experience  makes  it  not  less  mystical,  or 
real,  or  precious,  but  more  so. 

While  not  always  directly  religious,  these 
experiences  have  always  been,  to  me,  at  least, 
associated  with  a  pervading  sense  of  Supreme 
Love  because  of  which  and  by  means  of  which 
they  came.  Whether  they  would  disappear  and 
fade  into  the  light  of  common  day,  if  I  should 
come  to  believe  them  merely  subjective,  I  do 


92       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

not  know;  certainly,  they  would  lose  the  heart 
of  their  meaning.  I  am  not  saying  that  these 
individual  experiences  are  the  basis  and  found- 
ation of  my  faith.  That  roots  in  the  soil  of  a 
common  Christian  faith;  but  this  is  one  of  the 
forms  in  which  it  becomes  living  and  expressive. 
One  must  have  his  own  "drop  o'  dew,"  even 
though  the  largess  covers  the  whole  great 
meadow.  So  far  from  beclouding  the  intellect, 
or  unfitting  one  for  careful  thinking  and  earnest 
work,  these  experiences  clarify  the  mind  and 
enhearten  one  for  toil.  Without  the  freshness 
and  zest  which  they  give  to  life,  existence 
might  grow  ashen  and  dreary — a  meaningless 
leer  or  a  "tragic  shadow-play." 

It  should  be  added  that  while  these  experi- 
ences in  their  indescribable  individuality  of 
meaning  and  significance  often  come  unex- 
pectedly, like  perfume  wafted,  though  not  by 
chance,  from  an  invisible  garden,  still  the 
mystical  mood,  the  sense  of  the  Presence,  the 
calm  of  spirit  which  puts  one  in  touch  with 
the  larger  life,  can  be  induced  by  prayer, 
though  not  always  at  the  moment.  Prayer 
comes  to  mean,  more  and  more,  this  mystical 
opening  of  the  heart  to  the  Divine,  including 
an  outreach  to  the  sacred  souls  in  the  circle  of 
one's  affection,  as  all  embraced  within  the 
Eternal  Love. 


COSMIC  MYSTICISM  93 

VI 

But  is  not  this  intrusting  too  much  to  what 
appears  to  be  a  mere  feeling?  Do  not  such 
experiences  vary  greatly  in  intensity  and  reach 
their  maximum  of  convincing  power  only  at 
certain  rare  and  fleeting  moments?  Yes,  the 
mystical  experience  is  intermittent  and  incon- 
stant/^ But  must  it  not  be  so,  under  the  con- 
ditions of  our  dual  nature  and  environment? 
We  are  physical  as  well  as  spiritual  beings. 
Our  feet  are  in  the  dust,  even  while  our  heads 
are  among  the  stars.  We  are  of  the  earth 
earthy,  as  well  as  of  the  heavens  heavenly. 
Therefore  the  vision  fades.  But  the  memory 
of  it,  the  sense  of  its  reality,  does  not  fade. 
"Sometimes,"  as  H.  W.  Dresser  writes,  "a 
person's  whole  life  will  be  changed  by  the  com- 
ing of  a  quickening  presence  or  through  the 
persuasions  of  an  inner  vision."^''  To  the  same 
effect  are  those  arresting  words  of  Professor 
Diihm:  "He  who  has  once  been  seized  by  the 
conviction,  *I  stand  before  the  Living  God,' 
has  experienced  in  himself  the  secret  of  religion, 
and  his  whole  life  is  henceforth  consecrated 
(geweiht)  ."^"^ 

William  James  says  of  mystical  experiences, 

•*  Hocking,  in  his  The  Meaning  of  God  in  Human  Experience,  discusses 
this  necessity  with  penetration  and  conclusiveness. 
'«  The  Future  Life,  p.  29. 
17  Das  Geheimniss  in  der  Religion,  p.  32. 


94       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

"as  a  rule,  they  carry  with  them  a  curious 
sense  of  authority  for  after-time."^^  As  one 
strives  to  translate  the  vision  into  terms  of  hfe 
and  conduct,  the  conviction  of  its  soundness 
deepens  rather  than  vanishes.  One  knows  it 
to  be  real  in  the  sober  and  dogged  struggle  to 
be  true  to  it,  as  well  as  in  the  high  and  flaming 
moments  of  visitation.  He  is  well  aware  that 
he  is  not  deceived,  but  that  in  these  swift  incur- 
sions of  the  invisible  he  has  "come  on  that 
which  is."  For  these  "vanishings,"  be  they 
what  they  may. 

Are  yet  the  fountain  light  of  all  our  day, 
Are  yet  a  master  light  of  all  our  seeing. 


18  Varieties  of  Religious  Eicperience,  p.  381. 


Part  II 
TESTS  OF  MYSTICISM 

"Prove  all  things" 


CHAPTER  IV 

DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS  OF 
MYSTICISM^ 

"A  DRAGON  waits  on  everything  that  is  very 
good,"  wrote  Hawthorne.  Many  dragons  wait 
on  mysticism,  and  not  always  in  vain.  Nor  are 
the  dangers  to  which  mysticism  is  exposed 
merely  external.  They  spring  from  inherent 
defects  and  limitations.  For,  with  all  its  sin- 
cerity and  purity  of  spirit,  it  cannot  be  claimed 
that  mysticism  is  flawless.  In  fact,  it  has  ex- 
hibited, in  both  its  historic  and  contemporary 
forms,  several  grave  errors  which  cannot  be 
overlooked;  and  it  is  only  as  these  are  freely 
recognized  that  its  best  values  can  be  realized. 

I 

In  the  first  place,  mysticism  is  chargeable 
with  the  errors  and  faults  of  individualism. ^ 
By   individualism  I   mean   emphasis   upon   the 


1  The  discussion  is  mainly  confined  to  Christian  mysticism. 

'The  individualism  of  mysticism  is  never  a  selfish  grasping  of  material 
advantages.     It  is  of  quite  another  sort — the  magnifying  of  one's  own 
experience  as  superior  to,  or  at  least  apart  from,  that  of  others. 
97 


98       MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

self  as  isolated  from  others,  as  contrasted  with 
personalism,  which  emphasizes  the  self  as  related 
to  others.^  Every  great  spiritual  movement, 
it  is  true,  has  exalted  the  individual.  It  is  a 
large  part  of  the  power  of  mysticism  that  it 
has  done  the  same;  only  in  doing  so  it  has  too 
far  forgotten  the  inherently  social  nature  of 
seKhood,  of  truth,  of  virtue,  of  spiritual  life. 

None  has  seen  the  danger  of  relying  upon  the 
vagaries  of  purely^  individual  revelations  of 
truth  more  clearly  than  have  some  of  the 
mystics  themselves.  Thus  Juan  of  the  Cross, 
though  so  great  an  extremist  in  many  ways, 
writes  : 

I  am  terrified  by  what  passes  among  us  these 
days.  Anyone  who  has  barely  begun  to  medi- 
tate, if  he  becomes  conscious  of  these  words 
during  his  self-recollection,  pronounces  them 
forthwith  to  be  the  work  of  God  and  considering 
them  to  be  so,  says,  "God  has  spoken  to  me," 
or,  "I  have  had  an  answer  from  God."  But  it 
is  not  true;  such  a  one  has  only  been  speaking 
to  himself.  Besides,  the  affection  and  desire  for 
these  words  which  men  encourage,  cause  them 
to  reply  to  themselves,  and  then  to  imagine 
that  God  has  spoken.^ 

The    deep-visioned    and    incisive    Coleridge, 


» For  a  discussion  of  the  relation  of  the  individual  to  the  person,  see  my 
Personality  and  the  Christian  Ideal,  chapter  iii. 

*  See  The  Expository  Times,  September,  1912,  p.  531. 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS  99 

"the  rapt  one  with  the  godlike  forehead,"  who 
may  with  good  reason  be  included  among  the 
mystics,  has  this  to  say  of  this  type  of  mys- 
ticism : 

Antinuous:  What  do  you  call  mysticism? 
And  do  you  use  the  word  in  a  good  or  bad  sense? 

Nous:  In  the  latter  only,  as  far  as  we  are  now 
concerned  with  it.  When  a  man  refers  to  inward 
feelings  and  experiences  of  which  mankind  at 
large  are  not  conscious,  as  evidences  of  the  truth 
of  any  opinion,  such  a  man  I  call  a  mystic;  and 
the  grounding  of  any  theory  or  belief  on  acci- 
dents or  anomalies  of  individual  sensations  or 
fancies,  and  the  use  of  peculiar  terms  invented 
or  perverted  from  their  ordinary  significations, 
for  the  purpose  of  expressing  these  idiosyn- 
crasies, and  pretended  facts  of  interior  con- 
sciousness, I  name  mysticism.^ 

It  is  quite  evident  that  what  both  the  Spanish 
mystic  and  the  English  thinker  are  condemning 
is  not  the  intuitive  method  itself  but  the  abuse 
of  it.  There  is  certainly  a  most  serious  danger 
into  which  mystics  have  often  fallen,  even  some 
of  the  greatest  of  them,  of  confusing  the  Inner 
Light  with  their  own  vagrant  imaginations  and 
superficial  judgments.  They  have  failed  to 
recognize  the  value  of  the  common  testimony, 

»  Aids  to  Reflection,  p.  337,  Burlington  Edition. 


100      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

"Christian  consciousness,"  as  a  source  of  appeal 
and  evaluation.  They  have  failed  still  more  to 
realize  that  it  is  only  through  the  medium  of 
a  society  of  spiritual  persons  that  these  dis- 
closures of  truth  have  been  made  possible  to 
the  individual.  As  Bishop  Brent  has  well  said: 
* 'Mystic  observation  and  experience  must  have 
the  support  and  purification  of  universal  mystic 
experience  that  will  distinguish  between  the 
false  and  the  true,  phantasm  and  reality,  and 
deliver  the  individual  from  eccentricity  and 
extravagance."^ 

Yet  when  the  social  nature  of  truth  and  the 
danger  of  trusting  too  implicitly  to  individual 
impressions  have  been  conceded  to  the  full, 
the  basis  of  certainty  remains,  after  all,  in  the 
conviction  of  a  direct  disclosure  to  one's  own 
soul  to  be  tested,  sifted,  interpreted  with  the 
utmost  care  by  comparison  with  the  common 
experience,  yet,  in  the  end,  indubitable  because 
one's  own.  "I  count  as  nothing,"  cries  the 
broken  and  defeated  Savonarola,  "darkness 
encompasses  me;  yet  the  light  I  saw  was  the 
light  from  heaven.^' 

The  individualism  of  mysticism  has  fre- 
quently led  to  its  underestimation  of,  some- 
times its  contempt  for,  institutions.  As  con- 
trasted with  the  egregious  institutionahsm  all 

•  The  Sixth  Sense,  p.  103. 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS         101 

about  them,  this  has  been  an  advanced  and 
releasing  attitude  of  the  mystics.  Institutions 
are  for  men  and  not  men  for  institutions;  yet 
institutions  are  essential  to  the  well-being  of 
humanity  in  a  sense  that  the  mystics  did  not 
always  realize.  Dante  saw  this,  as  his  pageant 
of  the  church  testifies.  Luther  saw  it,  as  some 
of  his  less  balanced  contemporaries  did  not, 
and  erring  upon  the  opposite  side,  let  fling  his 
denunciations  of  Carlstadt  and  the  Zwickau 
prophets,  without  stint. 

When  one  considers  the  enslaving  tyranny 
which  institutions  have  exercised  over  the 
human  spirit,  it  is  difficult  to  exaggerate  the 
debt  which  is  owing  to  the  mystics  for  uphold- 
ing the  freedom  of  faith  and  of  individual  access 
to  God.  It  is  they  who  have  kept  alive  the 
inner  spirit  of  religion  through  all  the  insti- 
tution-darkened centuries.  And  yet  without 
the  Christian  institutions  there  might  have 
been  no  faith  preserved  for  the  mystics  to 
purify. 

Professor  Royce,  in  discussing  the  tendency 
of  mysticism  to  ignore  the  church,  points  out 
the  freedom  from  it  so  noticeable  in  Paul. 
"Paul  was  a  mystic,"  he  writes,  "but  he  was 
a  mystic  with  a  community  to  furnish  the 
garden  where  the  mystical  flowers  grew,  and 
where  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  were  ripened,  and 


102     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

where  all  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  found  their 
only  worthy  expression."^ 

It  would  not  be  true  to  say  that  mysticism 
separates  one  from  his  fellows.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  mystical  experience  draws  those  who 
possess  it  together.  It  acts  as  a  magnet  to 
create  social  fellowships,  as  all  the  mystical 
brotherhoods  attest — Essenes,  Franciscans,  Wal- 
denses,  Beghards,  Brethren  of  the  Common 
Life,  Quakers,  Moravians,  Wesleyans,  and  the 
rest.  Yet  it  does  tend,  in  some  degree,  to  draw 
men  away  from  the  natural  social  unities — the 
home,  the  state,  the  church  as  an  outward 
institution — unless  accompanied,  as  it  usually 
is,  by  strong  social  and  ethical  motives. 

A  similar  underestimate,  not  to  say  dises- 
teem,  of  the  Bible  may  doubtless  be  justly 
charged  to  some  of  the  mystics.  Yet,  on  the 
whole,  mystics  deeply  love  their  Bibles.  The 
spiritual  interpretation  of  the  Bible  character- 
istic of  mysticism,  in  spite  of  the  frequent 
extravagance  of  its  allegorism,^  is  in  happy 
contrast  with  the  deadening  effect  of  literalism 
and  has  contributed  richly  to  its  highest  under- 
standing and  use.® 


7  The  Problem  of  Christianity,  vol.  i,  p.  400. 

8  For  a  brilliant  discussion  of  the  allegorical  method  of  interpretation  as 
used  by  the  mystics,  see  The  Garden  of  Nuts,  by  Robertson  Nicoll,  chap- 
ter iv. 

•See  Von  Dobschiitz:   The  Influence  of  the  Bible  upon  Civilization,  p.  113. 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS         103 

II 

A  further  defect  of  mysticism  lies  in  its 
tendency  to  extravagance,  to  excess,  sometimes 
even  to  fanaticism.  It  often  carries  its  truths, 
its  practices,  its  pursuits,  to  the  very  verge  of 
unreason,  sometimes  beyond.  The  mediaeval 
mystics  not  seldom  fail  to  keep  "within  hailing 
distance  of  common  sense."  Thus  Eckhart, 
filled  with  a  great  truth,  but  carrying  it  to  an 
extreme,  asserts: 

The  heavenly  Father  begetteth  his  Only- 
Begotten  Son  in  himself  and  in  me.  Where- 
fore in  himself  and  in  me.^^  I  am  one  with  him, 
and  he  has  no  power  to  shut  me  out.  In  the 
self -same  work,  the  Holy  Ghost  receives  its  being 
and  proceeds  from  me,  as  from  God.  Where- 
fore.'^ I  am  in  God,  and  if  the  Holy  Ghost  takes 
not  its  being  from  me,  neither  does  it  take  it 
from  God.    In  no  wise  am  I  shut  out.^^ 

Such  statements  have  a  deeper  meaning  than 
appears  on  the  surface;  nevertheless,  they  pass 
the  bounds  both  of  sanity  and  reverence  and 
contrast  strongly  with  the  sobriety  in  intensity 
of  the  New  Testament.  Mystics  often  give  too 
much  play  to  what  Luther  called  Schwdrmerei. 
So  too  with  extravagance  in  self- discipline. 
In  their  supreme  devotion  to  the  life  of  the 

>o  See  Steiner:  Mystics  of  the  Renaissance,  p.  57. 


104      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

spirit  the  mystics  of  the  past  failed,  as  a  rule, 
to  rightly  honor  the  body  as  an  instrument  and 
medium  of  the  spirit.  They  did  not  see,  as  do 
we  of  to-day  the  intimacy  of  the  relationship 
between  soul  and  body.  Only  a  modern  mystic 
could  write: 

Let  us  not  always  say, 

"Spite  of  this  flesh  to-day, 

I  strove,  made  head,  gained  groimd 
on  the  whole." 

As  the  bird  wings  and  sings. 

Let  us  cry:  "All  good  things 

Are  ours,  nor  soul  helps  flesh. 

More  now  than  flesh  helps  soul." 

We  cannot  help  regretting — even  while  we 
revere  them — that  such  extremists  as  Saint 
Teresa  and  Henry  Suso  so  despised  and  muti- 
lated the  body  in  the  self-tortures  which  they 
inflicted  upon  themselves.  Saint  John  of  the 
Cross,  valiant  bearer  and  lover  of  crosses,  fails 
to  enlist  our  sympathy  in  his  prayer  that  no 
day  of  his  life  might  pass  in  which  he  should 
not  suffer  something.  Even  A  Kempis  in  cer- 
tain passages  of  the  Imitation  falls  into  an 
abnormal  asceticism  and  self-abnegation  which 
contrasts  unfavorably  with  the  stronger  and 
sweeter  portions  of  his  priceless  classic.  Doubt- 
less it  is  unbecoming  to  criticize  a  piety  so  far 
beyond  our  own;  but  the  real  strength  of  these 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS         105 

noble  souls  does  not  consist  in  their  self- 
afflictions,  trances,  spiritual  excesses,  but  in 
the  saner  spirit  of  devotion  and  love  which  was 
their  customary  frame  of  mind. 

The  note  of  excess  is  found,  too,  even  in  that 
which  is  the  chief  glory  of  mysticism — as  of 
religion  itself — love.  Not  that  it  is  possible 
to  love  too  much;  but  the  form  and  expression 
of  love  may  be  too  lavish,  too  intimate,  too 
familiar.  And  this  has  undoubtedly  too  often 
been  the  case  in  the  history  of  mysticism." 
The  mystic  seems  often  to  regard  God  as  his 
own  exclusive  and  peculiar  possession.  It  is 
this  doubtless  which  led  Professor  Francis  G. 
Peabody  to  say,  "The  defect  of  niysticism  is 
not  its  emotional  exaltation  but  its  emotional 
isolation.  "^2  Pure  as  the  mediaeval  mystics 
were  in  heart  and  motive,  and  above  reproach 
in  the  intensity  of  their  religious  affection,  some 
of  their  writings  are  very  much  weakened  by 
religious  eroticism.  Even  the  Moravians,  whose 
piety,  as  a  rule,  was  so  sane  and  simple,  were 
at  one  period  at  least  affected  by  mawkishness 
and  sentimentalism.  It  has  been  claimed  that 
mysticism  is  only  a  sublimated  form  of  the 
sexual  instinct. ^^    In  certain  of  its  aspects  the 

"  See  chap,  jdx  of  Taylor's,  The  Mediaeval  Mind. 
12  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Christian  Character,  p.  279. 
"  For  a  refutation  of  this  theory  see  Hocking:   The  Meaning  of  God  in 
Human  Experience,  Appendix. 


106     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

relationship  cannot  be  ignored.  Nor  need  it 
be.  Yet  the  two  are  leagues  apart.  As  a  sub- 
stitute for  sexual  affection  and  a  cure  for  sex- 
ualism,  mysticism  has  produced  remarkable 
results.  Indeed,  human  experience  has  proven 
that  no  power  is  so  great  to  restrain  sexual 
appetite  as  that  of  religion.  Witness,  for 
example,  Augustine's  Confessions. 

The  line  of  demarcation  between  full  and 
free  expression  and  over-expression,  between 
the  adequate  and  the  excessive,  is  so  intan- 
gible that  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
mystics  sometimes  crossed  it,  viewed  by  a 
cooler  and  more  critical  judgment.  Yet,  after 
all,  as  one  surveys  the  main  body  of  mystical 
literature,  the  notable  fact  is  the  surprising 
manner  in  which  they  succeeded  in  voicing 
the  inner  life  of  the  soul  without  passing  the 
bounds  of  sincerity  and  good  taste. 

Contemplation  is  a  mystical  exercise  which 
has  often  been  carried  to  an  extreme  that 
involves  selfishness.  To  know  when  and  how 
to  turn  from  vision  to  action,  from  the  con- 
templation of  the  Ideal  to  the  needs  of  a  world 
of  men,  requires  a  wisdom  and  a  self -discipline 
which  the  mystic  has  not  always  shown. 

Ill 

The  most  serious  theoretical  error  of  mys- 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS         107 

ticism  is  its  inclination  to  minimize  evil  in  order 
to  magnify  God. 

"Evil,"  says  Dionysius,  "is  neither  in  demons 
nor  in  us,  as  an  existent  [positive]  evil,  but 
[only]  as  a  failure  and  dearth  of  the  perfection 
of  our  own  proper  goods.""  Eckhart,  follow- 
ing Aquinas,  states  that  "evil  is  nothing  but 
privation  or  falling  away  from  being;  not  an 
effect  but  a  defect. "^"^  This  tendency  has  too 
often  attached  itself  to  the  mystical  theology, 
although  there  is  no  essential  connection. 

The  strong  impulse  on.  the  part  of  Christian 
mysticism  to  refuse  to  concede  to  evil  any 
fundamental  place  or  part  in  the  original  con- 
stitution of  either  nature  or  man  is  true  to  the 
deepest  conviction  of  religion,  as  well  as  to 
philosophy  and  science.  Ontological  dualism 
is  as  unchristian  as  it  is  unphilosophical.^® 
Mysticism  has  done  a  great  service  in  denying 
to  evil  any  such  eternal  reality  as  belongs  to 
goodness.  But  mysticism  has  often  failed  to 
take  due  account  of  the  overwhelming  reality 
of  evil  as  an  actual  force  in  the  existent  order. 

It  is  true — as  mysticism  has  deeply  seen  and 
reverently  made  known — that  evil  has  been  the 
instrument  of  testing,  the  thing  to  be  overcome. 


1*  Quoted  by  Von  Hiigel :  The  Mystical  Element  in  Religion,  vol.  ii,  p.  294. 
^6  Ibid. 

!•  A  further  discussion  of  this  subject  will  be  found  in  an  article  of  mine 
entitled  "Dualism  or  Duality,"  Harvard  Theological  Review,  April,  1913. 


108      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

and  thus  the  means  of  good,  to  man}^  a  soul. 
Yet  this  fact  is  offset  by  one  equally  undeniable 
— that  to  many  more  it  has  meant  only  defeat 
and  thralldom.  Because  an  experience  has 
been  turned  into  a  means  of  good  does  not 
involve  that  it  is  itself  good.  Mystics  do  not 
always  see  clearly  that  evil  can  be  explained 
only  in  the  light  of  freedom.  Upon  these  two 
fundamental  facts,  freedom  and  sin,  pure  Chris- 
tianity has  ever  laid  stress. 

Mysticism,  with  its  failure  to  see  evil  in  its 
full  heinousness,  often  fails  to  estimate  human 
freedom  at  its  full  value.  It  is  overshadowed 
by  the  all-inclusive  Divine  Activity.  God  is 
all  and  does  all;  man  has  but  to  be  still  and  to 
receive.  Yet  this  is  true,  as  a  rule,  only  of  the 
monistic  mystics.  Many  place  great  emphasis 
upon  freedom,  conceiving  it  in  the  largest  way. 
Thus  Angelus  Silesius,  in  the  Cherubinic  Wan- 
derer, declares: 

Naught  stronger  is  than  God, 

Yet  can  he  not  forfend. 
That  I  whate'er  I  will 

Should  not  will  or  intend." 

Here,  then  we  find  the  root  of  the  absence  of 
the  militant  spirit  in  mysticism,  which  Baron 
Von  Hugel  has  pointed  out:    "This  antipathy 


»7  Translation  by  Paul  Carus.    See  The  Monist,  vol.  rviii,  1,  p.  108, 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS         109 

to  even  a  relative,  God-willed  independence 
and  power  of  self-excitation,  gives  mysticism, 
as  such,  its  constant  bent  toward  Quietism."^* 
Not  that  there  have  not  been  militant  mystics, 
nor  that  there  is  any  inherent  irreconcilability 
between  true  mysticism  and  true  Christian 
freedom.  Yet  its  overbalanced  emphasis  upon 
the  divine,  as  over  against  the  human,  has  too 
far  robbed  mysticism  of  the  sense  of  initiative, 
and  so  of  power. 

If  the  speculative  mystics  had  been  far- 
sighted,*  they  might  have  foreseen  that  their 
mitigation  of  the  raucousness  of  evil  in  the 
interest  of  the  all-pervasive  goodness  of  God 
would  be  sure  to  issue  in  antinomianism,  with 
all  its  attendant  ills.  Perhaps  even  if  they  had 
foreseen  it,  they  might  not  have  withheld  what 
seemed  to  them  truth  for  the  sake  of  conse- 
quences that  might  be  unjustly  drawn  from  it. 
And  yet,  false  and  disastrous  issues  suggest 
failure  in  the  clear  apprehension  of  the  truth. 
At  any  rate,  it  is  impossible  to  blind  our  eyes 
to  the  fact  that  moral  laxity  has,  to  a  limited 
extent,  accompanied  the  mystical  attitude 
toward  life.  The  great  mystics  themselves 
were  free  from  it.  In  hardly  a  single  instance 
is  there  any  lapse  on  the  part  of  any  of  the 
heroes  of  mysticism  from  the  highest  and  most 

18  The  Mystical  Element  of  Religion,  vol.  ii,  p.  286. 


110      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

strict  moral  standards.  They  have  trodden 
upon  the  serpent  and  the  adder,  the  young 
lion  and  the  dragon  have  they  trampled  under 
foot.  Yet  their  weaker  followers  and  successors 
have  not  always  borne  themselves  so  firmly, 
especially  in  group  mysticism.  In  his  chapter, 
"Brotherhood  Groups,"  R.  M.  Jones  writes  as 
follows : 

The  somewhat  abstract  doctrines  of  Diony- 
sius,  Erigena,  and  Amaury  had  now  filtered 
down  into  the  common  mind,  and  were  being 
changed  from  academic  truths  to  practical 
truths.  They  began  to  be  translated  from  their 
safe  place  in  books  to  the  dangerous  stuff  of 
human  life.  So  long  as  the  teaching  of  the 
AUness  of  God  and  the  possibility  of  every 
person  being  an  expression  of  his  nature  was 
wrapped  away  in  the  difficult  verbiage  of  a 
philosophical  treatise,  matters  went  on  as  though 
the  book  had  never  been  written,  but  the 
situation  was  mightily  altered  when  those  views 
spread  through  the  world  and  became  a  popular 
doctrine  as  they  now  did.^* 

It  is  not  necessary  to  trace  the  extent  of  this 
moral  indifference,  leading  to  gross  license  and 
immorality.  It  is  sufficient  to  take  note  of  it 
as    an    occasional    by-product    of    mysticism. 


w  studies  in  Mystical  Religion,  p.  202. 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS        111 

growing  out  of  the  indefinite  pantheistic  theory 
of  evil  so  often  attached  to  mystical  speculation. 

IV 

To  these  more  positive  defects  of  mysticism 
must  be  added  certain  marked  limitations. 

First  of  these  is  its  limited  vision  of  the 
breadth  and  scope  of  the  life  of  humanity ,  and  so 
of  the  kingdom  of  God,  In  no  sense  could  the 
mystics  be  called  narrow.  They  have  been 
among  the  peerless  thinkers  and  doers  of  the 
race,  men  and  women  with  eye  single  and  clear 
who  did  this  one  thing  and  thus  did  it  in  a  man- 
ner approaching  perfection.  They  were  of  the 
world — that  is,  the  world  that  is  most  real  and 
worthful — but  not  of  this  world.  In  spite  of  the 
mystics'  neglect  of  science,  many  of  them  have 
done  noble  and  lasting  service  in  making  the 
present  world  a  better  world  to  live  in.  They 
have  not,  as  a  rule,  despised  or  neglected  the 
duties  and  obligations  of  the  outer  life.  "The 
best  preparation  of  a  religious  man" — such  is 
the  "golden  sentence"  of  Bonaventura — "is  to 
do  common  things  in  a  perfect  manner."  They 
have  often  been  strikingly  successful  executives 
and  admins trators.  Paul  possessed  great  execu- 
tive power.  The  mystics  of  the  orders  were 
great  organizers  and  leaders.  Catherine  of 
Genoa's   accounts   as   matron   of   the   hospital 


\i 


112     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

"were  never  found  wrong  by  a  single  farthing."^ 
"The  soul  enamored  of  my  truth,"  said  the  voice 
of  God  to  Catherine  of  Siena,  "never  ceases  to 
serve  the  whole  world  in  general. "^^  With  all 
the  dark  sayings  of  his  sermons,  Eckhart 
preached  clearly  the  value  of  service.  "What 
a  man  takes  in  by  contemplation  he  must  pour 
out  in  love,"  he  declared.  "It  is  better  to  feed 
the  hungry  than  to  see  even  such  visions  as 
Paul  saw. "22  Tauler  went  so  far  as  to  say, 
"One  can  spin,  and  another  can  make  shoes, 
and  all  these  are  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  I 
tell  you."  Brother  Lawrence  made  cooking 
sacramental.    George  Herbert  wrote: 

Who  sweeps  a  room  as  to  thy  laws 
Makes  that  and  the  action  fine. 

Furthermore,  mystics  have  been  among  the 
great  political  and  social  idealists  and  con- 
structionists. The  prophets  were  both  mystics 
and  social  reformers.  King  Alfred,  Saint  Fran- 
/cis,  Savonarola,  Luther,  William  Penn — mys- 
1  tical  all — were  builders  of  the  new  social  order. 
Thomas  More's  Utopia  is  full  of  mystical  spirit. 
With  the  vision  of  God  often  came  the  vision 
of  a  redeemed  social  order  which  should  embody 


20  Von  HQgel:  Op.  cit.,  vol.  i,  p.  143. 

21  Underbill:  Mysticism,  p.  210. 
»  R.  M.  Jones:  Op.  cit.,  p.  238. 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS        113 

his  will;  and  the  dreamers  were  not  content 
with  the  dream;  they  sought  to  make  it  real. 

Nevertheless,  when  all  has  been  said,  it  still 
remains  true  that  the  mystic's  conception  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  has  been  somewhat  one- 
sided and  incomplete.  In  dwelling  upon  its 
eternal  nature  he  has  too  far  overlooked  its 
temporal  nature.  The  mystic  of  the  past  did 
not  see  what  a  scholar-mystic  of  our  own  time 
stated  thus: 

All  is  for  Him  who  gave  Himself  for  all — 
nature,  science,  art,  business  and  pleasure,  play 
and  work,  the  body  and  the  spirit,  society  and 
the  state,  as  well  as  the  church.^^ 

Tauler,  in  his  sermon  on  the  Kingdom,  said  of 
it,  "For  the  kingdom  of  God,  what  is  it  but 
God  himself  with  all  his  riches.^"  That  is  most 
noble  and  true,  and  yet  it  is  not  the  whole 
truth.  Unless  the  City  of  God  comes  down 
out  of  heaven  and  transforms  life  here,  it  will 
not  fulfill  human  hopes  and  needs.  As  a  Chi- 
cago preacher  said,  "Heaven  may  be  our  home, 
but  Chicago  is  our  present  place  of  residence." 
In  political  and  social  affairs  the  mystic  of 
the  past  has  been,  as  a  rule,  too  content  to 
leave  things  as  they  are.     It  is  to  rationalism, 

»  Egbert  C.  Smyth:  The  True  Use  of  the  World,  Andover  Review,  vol. 
XX,  p.  625. 


114      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

quite  as  much  as  to  mysticism,  that  we  owe 
the  rise  of  democracy.  The  assertion  of  human 
rights,  the  claim  of  the  individual  to  his  share 
of  material  wealth  and  privilege,  the  uprisings 
which  brought  about  the  American  and  French 
revolutions — with  these  mysticism  had  com- 
paratively little  to  do. 

It  is  not  without  significance  that  the  rise 
of  democracy  accompanied  the  domination  of 
deism,  sometimes  even  of  atheism.  Men  felt, 
whether  rightly  or  wrongly,  that  in  order  to 
reach  a  true  sense  of  their  own  powers  and  pre- 
rogatives they  must  put  God  far  enough  away 
to  give  them  a  sufficient  sense  of  themselves. 
The  same  tendency  marks  the  progress  of 
industrial  democracy.  Here  is  something  which 
neither  the  institutionalism  nor  the  mysticism 
of  the  past  could  quite  grasp,  for  both  have 
lacked  vision  of  the  breadth  and  scope  of 
human  society.  There  was  needed  a  larger 
conception  of  the  worth  of  the  physical,  of  the 
present  werldj^of^man^f  society  as  an  organic 
developing  order. 

And  yet,  as  the  new  political  order  has 
established  itself,  as  the  wealth  and  splendor 
of  life  in  the  world  of  here  and  now  have 
unfolded,  and  as  men,  under  its  spell  and 
power,  have  grown  farther  and  farther  from 
mysticism  and  come  under  the  sway  of  a  glit- 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS        115 

taring  materialism,  they  have  come  to  realize 
that  without  spiritual  life — that  kinship  with 
the  eternal  which  mysticism  alone  can  give — 
the  whole  splendid  achievement  we  call  civil- 
ization is  an  empty  show.  A  deep,  indefinable 
Heimweh  has  made  itself  felt.  Many  to-day 
are  earnestly  asking  whether,  without  abandon- 
ing democracy  and  the  sense  of  the  worth  and 
possibilities  of  the  present  life,  it  is  not  possible 
to  have  also  that  which  alone  can  give  meaning 
and  value  to  it  all — the  sense  of  eternal  and 
invisible  realities  which  mysticism  alone  fully 
possesses. 


Another  serious  limitation  of  mysticism  in 
its  interpretation  of  Christianity  is  its  lack  of 
the  sense  of  history,  especially  of  the  historic 
Christ?' 

This  weakness  lies,  manifestly,  alongside  its 
greatest  strength.  Without  the  mystical  inter- 
pretation of  Christ  as  the  eternal,  indwelling 
Word  of  God  in  the  soul,  Christianity  could 
hardly  have  survived,  much  less  have  con- 
quered. In  interpreting  him  spiritually  and 
inwardly  mysticism  universalized  Christ.  A 
historical    character    cannot    become    potent 


2*  Professor  Hermann  goes  so  far  as  to  characterize  mysticism  as  a 
"piety  which  feels  that  which  is  historical  in  the  positive  religion  to  be 
burdensome  and  so  rejects  it."    Inge:  Christian  Mysticism,  p.  346. 


116      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

except  as  he  is  identified  with  an  inherent 
spiritual  experience.  This  identification  mys- 
ticism effected.  It  saw  in  Jesus  the  Christ. 
^  And  yet,  in  doing  this,  mysticism  almost 
lost  the  historic  Jesus. ^^  The  intellectual  and 
scholarly  instinct  came  in  to  supplement  both 
the  mystical  and  the  institutional  interests. 
Since  mysticism  was  concerned  with  Jesus  only 
spiritually,  and  the  church  was  concerned  with 
him,  in  the  main,  neither  historically  nor  mys- 
tically, but  practically  and  sacramentally,  it 
is  clear  that,  except  for  the  instinct  and  service 
of  pure  scholarship,  we  should  have  had  no 
clear  and  reliable  understanding  of  the  Jesus  of 
history. 

Not  that  there  is  any  fundamental  dis- 
harmony between  mysticism  and  learning.  On 
the  contrary,  mysticism  has  been  most  closely 
allied  with  the  development  of  theology  and 
philosophy.  It  has,  as  we  have  seen,  a  strong 
speculative  and  literary  bent.  But  in  the 
study  of  history,  as  of  science  as  a  matter  of 
patient  investigation,  mysticism  as  such  has 
had  little  interest. 

As  a  result  mysticism  has  missed,  to  a  large 
degree,  the  historic  factor  in  Christianity.  It 
has   not   sufficiently   grasped   the   ideal   which 

i*  "Die  Mystik  wird  iiberall  in  ebcn  dem  Masse  ungesund,  in  dem  sie 
alles  Geschichtliche  abzustreifen  und  hinter  sich  zu  lassen  sucht." 
Wobbermin:   Geachichte  und  Historie  in  die  Religions  Wissenschaft,  p.  3. 


DEFECTS  AND  LIMITATIONS         117 

is  coming  more  and  more  to  command  the 
thought  of  our  time — that  is,  Christianity  as  the 
historic  consummation  of  a  revelation  that  "per- 
vades  the  entire  religious  life  of  humanity.  The 
study  both  of  history  and  of  comparative 
religion  is  necessary  to  enable  us  to  see  in  Jesus 
Christ  the  highest  possible  revelation  of  God, 
significant  for  the  whole  human  race  as  its 
only  adequate  Ideal. 

A  Christo-centric  theology,  in  the  true  sense, 
is  possible  only  as  the  mystical  theology  and 
the  historical  unite  in  giving  us  a  Christ  in 
whom  are  blended  the  Lord  of  Faith  and  Jesus 
of  Nazareth. 


CHAPTER  V 
MYSTICISM  AND  RATIONALITY 


^ 


The  strength  of  mysticism  as  a  philosophy 
of  life  lies  chiefly  in  two  facts.  The  first  is 
that  it  persistently  contends  that  ultimate 
truth  is  a  matter  of  immediate  personal  experi- 
ence, and  the  second  is  that  it  persistently 
endeavors  to  express  and  interpret  the  experi- 
ence in  rational  and  moral  terms.  Hence  its 
close  association,  on  the  one  hand  with  simple, 
unreflective  faith,  and,  on  the  other,  with  phi- 
losophy, theology,  and  literature.  Though  pro- 
nouncing his  experience  ineffable,  the  mystic 
has  proven  abundantly  able  both  to  state  and 
to  defend  it. 

I 

The  interplay  of  these  two  impulses,  the  one 
toward  immediate  and  intuitive  truth,  the 
other  toward  interpretative  and  analytical 
truth,  appears  throughout  the  history  of  human 
thought  in  movements,  in  schools,  and  in  indi- 
vidual thinkers.  Harmonious  in  Plato,  intui- 
tion and  ratiocination  became  divergent  in  his 


MYSTICISM  AND  RATIONALITY      119 

successors.  Reunited  in  Christianity,  they 
again  diverge,  again  seek  each  other  in  early 
scholasticism,  again  part,  and  in  the  period  of 
dominant  rationalism  almost  lose  touch  with 
one  another;  but  again  draw  toward  one  another 
in  the  philosophy  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  thus,  through  action  and  reaction,  strife 
and  adjustment,  temper  and  supplement  one 
another.  In  individual  thinkers  the  same 
claimancy  of  the  two  principles — the  rational- 
izing and  the  mystical — is  often  witnessed,  the 
one  that  is  slighted  ultimately  demanding  its 
rights.  Thus  Hegel  and  Schleiermacher,  begin- 
ning with  the  mystical  tendency,  move  in  the 
direction  of  rationalism,  the  one  to  the  almost 
complete  absorption  of  the  mystical  in  the 
rational,  the  other  toward  a  truer  harmony; 
while  Schelling  and  Fichte,  starting  with  the 
predominance  of  the  intellectual  element,  gravi- 
tate toward  the  mystical.^ 

This  twofold  character  of  mysticism  as 
experience  and  as  interpretation  has  exposed 
it  to  a  twofold  attack,  the  first  from  without, 
against  reliance  upon  experience  (immediacy) 
as  the  criterion  of  truth,  and  the  second  from 


/  1  Professor  George  P.  Adams  writes  of  Hegel:  "Perhaps  the  most  interest- 
ing and  signi6cant  problem  in  the  interpretation  of  Hegelian  philosophy, 
and,  indeed,  of  all  absolute  idealism,  is  precisely  this  relation  between  the 
two  motives  in  tuition  and  discursive  thought,  experience  and  its  intellectual 
elaboration,  mysticism  and  rationalism"  (The  Mystical  Element  in  Hegel's 
Early  Theological  Writings.     University  of  California  Publications). 


120      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

within,  against  the  attempt  to  justify  and 
interpret  experience  by  and  for  the  intellect. 
Let  us  take  up,  first,  the  common  objections 
to  the  mystical  reliance  upon  intuition. 

II 

Two  singularly  contradictory  arguments  have 
been  made  against  intuition,  first  to  prove  it 
to  be  mere  untrustworthy  subjectivism,  and, 
second,  to  show  that-  it  is  only  a  swift  process 
of  sound  ratiocination,  unconscious  of  its  move- 
ment and  aware  only  of  its  result.  If  either 
of  these  can  be  proven,  it  renders  the  other 
void. 

In  answer  to  the  first  of  these  objections  the 
mystic  virtually  replies:  *T  know  the  truth 
of  the  spiritual  world  with  a  conclusive  sense 
of  conviction,  as  I  know  myseK.  This  is  not 
mere  emotion,  it  takes  hold  of  my  whole  being 
and  convinces  me  of  its  reality.  'The  heart 
has  reasons  which  the  mind  knows  not  of.' 
Moreover,  the  conviction  is  not  mine  alone; 
my  fellow  believer  has  the  same  sense  of  cer- 
tainty and  assures  me  of  it."  And  in  answer 
to  the  second  objection  he  replies:  "A  process 
of  reasoning  of  which  I  am  unconscious  is  a 
pure  assumption.  Unconscious,  or  semicon- 
scious, reasoning  is  not  reasoning  at  all.  It  is 
of   the   very   nature   of   reasoning   that   it   be 


MYSTICISM  AND  RATIONALITY      121 

conscious. 2  Moreover,  the  assurance  I  feel  in 
the  presence  of  spiritual  truth  is  far  stronger 
than  that  which  I  reach  as  the  result  of  a 
process  of  inferential  reasoning.  It  is  of  a 
superior  order  and  quality;  I  cannot  go  back 
of  the  testimony  of  consciousness,  which  is 
that  this  truth  is  directly  and  not  inferentially 
known."  In  some  such  way  as  this  mysticism,  , 
may  furnish  a  reason  for  its  faith.  As  -Dfv 
George-Ar.  <jordon  has  stated  it:  "The  ulti- 
mate premise  of  thought  is  not  proof.  It  is 
insight  or  assumption  in  accordance  with  sane 
reason."^  "But,"  continues  the  objector,  "what 
about  ideas?  Can  you,  as  a  mystic,  pretend  i 
to  converse  with  truth  apart  from  ideas  .^  And  / 
what  are  ideas  but  intellectual  concepts  .P"  ' 

'"  U 

Ideas  are  the  clothing,  the  embodiment,  of   ^ ^^ 
reality.     It  is  indeed  impossible  to  approach  ^ 
reality  without  ideas  or  to  interpret  it  after- 
ward except  in  terms  of  ideas."     Nevertheless, 
the  ideas  are  not  the  reality  itself,  nor  are  they 
adequate    to    express    it.      Always    reality    is 


2  That  which  has  seemed  to  be  unconscious  reasoning  may,  as  in  the 
cases  of  the  Elberfeldt  horses,  as  Maeterlinck,  holdsi  be  telepathic. 

3  The  New  Epoch  for  Faith,  p.  1. 

*  The  term  "ideas"  is  \ised  as  including  both  concepts  and  images,  but 
'fvith  the  emphasis  upon  the  conceptual  element. 


122      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

greater,  richer,  higher  than  they/  If  one  were 
to  liken  reality  to  a  home,  ideas  constitute  the 
house.  Through  them  entrance  is  afforded  to 
the  inner  truth;  they  inclose  and  enshrine  it. 
They  even  constitute  the  furniture  and  the 
pictures  on  the  walls;  but  they  are  not  the 
I  home  itself.  That  is  something  invisible,  intan- 
Igible,  indefinable,  but  intensely  real.  Without 
it  the  house  has  no  real  meaning,  at  least  no 
complete  meaning.  Without  a  reality  tran- 
scending them,  ideas  are  as  empty  and  mean- 
ingless as  an  empty  house.  "We  wrongly 
believe,"  as  Maeterlinck  has  said,  "that  because 
the  harvest  of  life  passes  along  the  road  of  intel- 
ligence it  has  been  gathered  upon  this  road." 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  the  mystic 
has  overlooked  his  indebtedness  to  ideas  in  his 
insistence  that  he  comes  directly  to  the  naked 
unmediated  reality.  There  is  ample  ground 
for  the  criticism  offered  by  Professor  Coe: 

What  discredits  the  mystical  theory  is  that  it  . 
accepts  as  immediate  intuition  what  is  palpably' 
an  interpretation.  His  spiritual  monism  may 
be  true  or  not;  that  question  does  not  here 
concern  us;  the  present  contention  is  simply 
that  the  mystic  acquires  his  religious  convic- 


5  "Immediacy  and  mediateness,  in  short,  are  necessary  complements  in 
all  conscious  life"  (H.  A.  Overstreet,  "The  Ground  of  the  Time-Illusion," 
Philosophical  Review,  vol.  xviii,  1,  p.  23). 


I 


MYSTICISM  AND  RATIONALITY      123 

tions  precisely  as  his  nonmystical  neighbor  does, 
namely,  through  tradition  and  instruction, 
auto-suggestion  grown  habitual,  and  reflective 
analysis.  The  mystic  brings  his  theological 
beliefs  to  the  mystical  experience;  he  does  not 
derive  them  from  it." 


And  yet  the  mystic's  religious  experience 
does  differ,  immeasurably,  from  that  of  his  non- 
mystical  neighbor,  because  he  has  passed  into 
the  substance  of  his  ideas — so  at  least  he  believes 
— to  that  secret  Divine  Reality  hidden  within  ^^ 
them  which  they  may  eithei  reveal  or  conceal. 
In  this  sense  his  experience  is  immediate, 
intuitive,  indefinable.  He  goes  straight  to  it, 
even  if  it  be  by  the  pathway  of  ideas.  More- 
over, it  is  only  half  of  the  truth  to  say  that 
his  theological  beliefs  determine  the  mystic's 
experience;  he  comes  away  from  his  experience 
with  ideas  modified,  enlarged,  infilled  with  vital 
meaning. 

IV 

What,  then,  is  involved  in  the  doctrine  of 
immediacy,  of  which  mysticism  makes  so  much.'' 
We  have  already  found  that  it  does  not  exclude 
the  mediation  of  ideas,  although  it  transcends 
them.     We  are  now  prepared  to  say  that  true 


«  "Sources  of  Mystical  Revelation,"  Hibbert  Journal,  vi,  2,  p.  367. 


y; 


124      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

immediacy,  or  intuition,  not  only  does  not 
abrogate  reason  but  is  itself  reason.  The 
reason  which  the  mystic  recognizes  is,  however, 
the  Higher  Reason,  the  Inner  Light,  the  Logos, 
the  Ej:£jQf,:yie_Soul;  that  is,  it  is  a  reason  which, 
whatever  aid  it  may  receive  from  ideas  in 
approaching  its  object,  in  the  end  beholds  it 
directly  and  immediately/  It  has  parted  the 
veil  and  entered  into  the  presence  of  its  Object. 
Unlike  the  swallow  on  the  lake,  in  Tennyson's 
figure,  "that  sees  and  stirs  the  surface  shadow 
there,"  it  has  "dipt  into  the  abysm."* 

It  hardly  needs  to  be  pointed  out  that  this 
recognition  of  a  Higher  Reason  runs  through 
the  whole  course  of  human  thought.  The  his- 
tory of  philosophy  is  replete  with  it,  from  Plato's 
distinction  between  Intuition  and  Dialectic  to 
Coleridge's  between  Reason  and  the  Under- 
standing and  the  later  ones  between  the  Intellect 
and  the  Reason  and  between  the  Discursive  and 
the  Intuitive  Reason.  Whatever  may  be  their 
differences  in  describing  the  Higher  Reason  and 
its  operation,  the  mystics  are  one  in  ascribing 
to  it  a  divine  and  transcendent  character  and 
in  denying  to  the  intellect  or  reasoning  faculty. 


'  Here  mysticism  parts  company  with  philosophic  monism.  Royce,  for 
example,  describes  the  function  of  reason  as  "the  synthetic  view  of  many 
facts  in  their  unity — in  the  grasping  of  a  complex  of  relations  in  their  total 
significance"  (Sources  of  Religious  Insight,  p.  90). 

8  The  Ancient  Seer. 


MYSTICISM  AND  RATIONALITY      125 

which  proceeds  by  syllogism  and  inference, 
the  power  to  reach  Ultimate  Reality.  That 
must  be  seen  with  open  face,  as  one  looks  into 
the  eyes  of  a  friend.  Thus  reason,  in  the  highest  ^ 
sense,  according  to  the  mystics,  is  experiential 
rather  than  analytic  or  synthetic,  in  its  oper-  / 
ation.  It  is  concerned  with  the  supreme  real- 
ities, the  truths  of  the  spirit,  and  concentrates 
upon  them  as  embracing  the  ultimate  values 
of  existence. 

Not  that  mysticism  has  need  to  deny  the 
place  and  validity  of  the  intellect.  Withir 
sphere  the  intellect  has  both  validity  and  value, 
but  its  truths  are  not  those  of  the  higher  life 
of  the  soul.  It  has  no  vision  of  its  own,  no 
first-hand  contact  with  spiritual  realities.  The 
syllogism  may  be  of  service  in  determining 
that  all  men  are  mortal,  but  not  that  they  are 
immortal.  If  it  is  given  sole  sway  in  the  alien 
realm  of  spirit,  all  the  intellect  can  do  is  to 
substitute  the  ideas  in  which  ultimate  truths 
are  enwrapped  for  the  truths  themselves  and 
then  proceed  to  relate  and  organize  these  ideas 
or  doctrines  in  such  a  way  as  to  produce  a 
system,  in  which  ideas  emerge  from  other  ideas 
logically  and  schematically,  and  all  is  lifeless 
and  mechanical.  This  is  rationalism — a  sys- 
tem in  which  ideas  generate  ideas  and  there  is_ 
no  direct  contact  with  their  original  sources. 


126     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

The  truths  of  the  spirit  cannot  be  reached  in 
that  way.  Take  such  fundamental  yet  final 
truths  as  Right,  Love,  God.  How  can  they  be 
discovered  save  by  spiritual  experience?  Out 
of  what  could  these  realities  be  constructed,  or 
deduced,  if  they  were  not  already  existent,  as 
real  and  incontrovertible  as  are  we  ourselves? 
,.-  They  are  realities  of  a  personal  nature,  real 
because  personality  is  real,  boundless  as  are 
personal  possibilities,  deep  as  are  the  depths 
of  personal  being.  Unless  we  experience  these 
truths,  how  can  we  know  them?  If  we  simply 
open  the  eyes  of  our  selfhood,  are  they  not 
there  to  greet  us?  We  may  apply  to  them  the 
words  of  Pascal  concerning  God  and  say:  "We 
could  not  find  them  unless  we  already  had 
them."  Are  any  truths  equally  rational  with 
these  truths  of  personality?  Can  mysticism, 
which  dwells  in  this  light,  be  other  than  rational? 
It  is  when  we  are  truest  to  ourselves  that  we 
realize  these  truths  most  intensely, 

In  clearest  vision,  amplitude  of  mind. 
And  Reason  in  her  most  exalted  mood. 

This  is  not  saying  that  we  divest  ourselves  of 

either  our  sensuous  or  our  intellectual  powers 

^  and  processes  to  reach  this  higher  realm  of 

y  I  truth.     That  would  be  impossible.     What  we 

do  is  to  enter  a  new  truth  dimension,  so  to 


MYSTICISM  AND  RATIONALITY      127 

speak,  with  our  total  powers  and  faculties  in 
action,  yet  exercised  in  connection  with  a  higher 
perceptive  power  which  is  personal  and  spir- 
itual. 


But  what  of  dialectic?  Have  we  not  in  its 
patient,  hard-won  ascent  the  genuine  method 
and  the  final  assurance  of  truth,  rather  than 
in  the  crass  assumption  of  an  inner  experience, 
a  direct  vision?  Certainly,  there  is  something 
in  the  process  of  dialectic,  as  contrasted  with 
that  of  formal  logic,  that  gives  it  a  very  close 
affinity  with  mysticism.  No  less  a  thinker  than 
Plato  himself  recognized  the  tie,  for  in  Plato 
dialectic  is  not  a  substitute  for  but  an  aid  to 
intuition.  ' 

Is  it  not,  then,  the  dialectic  method  only, 
said  I,  that  proceeds  thus  onward — removing 
all  hypotheses  back  to  the  starting  point,  that  it 
may  become  firmly  established,  and  so  gradually 
lead  and  draw  upward  the  eye  of  the  soul,  which 
was  truly  buried  in  a  certain  barbaric  mire?^ 

To   clarify   the   eye   of   the   soul,   to   draw   it 
upward  that  it  may  see  for  itself,  is  the  true^ 
function  of  dialectic.    It  is  a  process  of  clearing 
away  obstructions,  or  of  climbing  to  a  point 

•  The  Republic,  book  vii,  chap,  xiii,  Henry  Davis's  translation. 


128     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

where  the  vision  of  truth  is  unobstructed,  as 
it  is  pictured  in  Walter  Pater's  description  of 
the  Platonic  dialectic : 

It  is  only  upon  the  final  step,  with  free  view 
at  last  on  every  side,  uniting  together  and  justi- 
fying all  those  various,  successive,  partial 
apprehensions  of  the  difficult  way — only  on 
the  summit  comes  the  intuitive  comprehension 
of  what  the  true  form  of  the  mountain  really 
is;  with  a  mental,  or,  rather,  an  imagina- 
tive hold  upon  which,  for  the  future,  we  can 
find  our  way  securely  about  it;  observing  per- 
haps, that  next  to  that  final  intuition,  the  first 
view,  the  first  impression,  had  been  truest 
about  it.^" 

Bergson,  in  the  clarifying  description  of  the 
nature  of  intuition  in  his  Introduction  to  Meta- 
physics, fails  to  recognize  the  function  of  dia- 
lectic. He  makes  room  only  for  analysis,  suc- 
ceeding intuition.  The  fault  of  philosophy  has 
been,  as  he  points  out,  that  it  has  surveyed 
truth  from  without,  conceptually,  instead  of 
getting  within  it.  And  yet,  such  an  outside 
survey  may  be  made  a  preparation  and  aid  to 
a  sally  within  instead  of  a  substitute  for  it. 

Dialectic,  that  is,  is  ancillary  to  intuition,  an   / 
aid  to  the  recognition  of  truth,  not  a  construe- 


10  Plato  and  Platonism,  p.  180,  Library  Edition. 


MYSTICISM  AND  RATIONALITY      120 

tive  process.  As  such  it  is  not  absolutely 
necessary  to  every  individual  experience  of 
truth,  either  as  a  conscious  or  an  unconscious 
prerequisite,  though  it  holds  an  essential  place 
in  the  total  process  of  spiritual  experience. 

VI 

Mysticism  is  not  content,  as  we  have  seen, 
with  an  appeal  to  experience.  It  has  always 
stood,  also,  for  interpretation.  It  has  not  been 
satisfied  with  the  gift  of  tongues,  but  would 
have  also  interpretation  of  tongues.  Thus  it 
has  to  meet,  as  we  noted  at  the  beginning  of  the 
chapter,  not  only  the  attack  of  those  without 
who  question  its  right  to  appeal  to  experience 
as  a  medium  of  truth,  but  of  those  within  who 
protest  against  any  attempt  at  explication  and 
would  have  only  babblings  and  enthusiasms,  or 
at  best  only  such  limited  forms  of  intelligible 
expression  as  would  serve  to  bind  together  its 
own  initiates. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  this  nonrational 
type  of  mysticism  has  played  a  large  part  in 
its  history.  Christian  mysticism  itself  has  had 
its  Montanists,  its  Enthusiasts,  its  Family  of 
Love,  its  Ranters,  its  "Holy  Ghost  and  Us" 
societies.  But  these  erraticisms  and  extra- 
vagances only  lend  the  greater  significance  to 
the  fact   that,   on   the   whole,   mysticism   has 


130     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

stood  unfalteringly  for  a  rational  interpre- 
tation of  religious  experience.  Conclusive  of 
this  is  the  fact  that  not  infrequently  mysticism 
is  wrongly  identified  with  its  interpretation  of 
experience,  rather  than  with  its  insistence  upon 
the  experience  itself. 

Those  who  to-day  are  joining  in  the  popular 
outcry  against  theology  hardly  realize  that,  if 
consistently  applied,  it  would  eradicate  not 
only  such  treatises  as  the  Summa  of  Aquinas 
and  the  Institutes  of  Calvin,  but  much  of  the 
Confessions  of  Augustine,  the  Theologica  Ger- 
manica,  the  Imitatio  Christi,  and  of  all  the 
noble  literature  in  which  the  mystics  have  tried 
to  interpret  and  relate  their  experience. 

The  most  rational  thing  in  mysticism,  that 
which  makes  it  supremely  rational,  is  that  it 
fastens  with  unrelaxing  grasp  upon  the  central 
issue,  the  truth  that  is  at  once  highest,  deepest, 
and  most  essential  to  true  living.  It  too  often 
ignores  everything  else — science,  art,  literature, 
jdeasure,  culture,  all — that  it  may  reach  the  heart 
of  truth  and  rest  there.  It  fails  to  realize  that 
when  one  has  found  the  Kingdom  these  things 
wait  to  be  added  unto  it.  Such  a  sense  of 
values,  or,  rather,  of  value,  is  the  rationality 
of  the  seeker  of  the  pearl  of  great  price,  of  the 
treasure  hid  in  the  field.  It  is  the  wisdom  of 
knowing  the  best  and  gaining  it  at  all  costs,  of 


MYSTICISM  AND  RATIONALITY      131 

seizing  the  center  of  the  field  and  holding  it,  of 
concentrating  upon  the  truth  that  shapes  and 
determines  life  because  it  is  itself  life. 

This  is  an  attitude  toward  truth  which  we 
have  now  too  much  lost.  We  lack  the  mystic's 
daring.  We  are  appalled  and  shaken  with  the 
mystery  of  existence,  with  the  limitations  of 
knowledge.  We  are  held  back  by  the  restraints 
of  the  scientific  method,  by  the  need  of  wide 
induction,  and  of  painstaking  care  in  reaching 
conclusions,  not  seeing  that  in  the  realm  of  the 
spirit  the  scientific  method  is  the  seizure  of 
moral  and  spiritual  ultimates.  We  are  obsessed, 
now  by  the  extent  of  our  knowledge,  now  by 
the  extent  of  our  ignorance.  With  reference 
to  ultimate  truths  we  are  hesitant  and  afraid. 
We  survey  them  from  the  outside,  but  do  not 
dare  to  enter  and  take  possession. 

Nothing  could  be  more  essentially  irrational 
than  this  indecision,  this  waiting  to  be  con- 
vinced, this  hesitating  inaction,  for  in  respect 
to  the  central  issues  the  main  thing  is  attitude, 
and  indecision  is  itself  an  attitude.  Augustine, 
describing  his  years  of  vacillation  concerning 
Christianity,  wrote: 

For  I  would  not  allow  my  heart  to  climb, 
avoiding  the  precipice  to  die  by  the  halter. 
For  I  wanted  to  be  as  certain  of  things  unseen 
as  I  was  that  seven  and  three  make  ten.  ...  I 


132      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

might  have  been  healed  by  belief,  directing  my 
purified  sight  in  some  way  toward  Thy  truths 
which  ever  abides  and  never  fails  in  any  part.^^ 

A  world  of  highly  unprejudiced  and  open- 
minded  people  who  were  all  holding  the  ques- 
tion of  the  existence  of  God  or  of  the  basis  for 
ethics  open,  until  the  complete  evidence,  cover- 
ing all  possible  contingencies,  is  in,  would  be 
as  irrational  as  it  would  be  irresolute.  These 
are  issues  in  which  neutrality  is  as  fallacious  as 
it  is  immoral. 

The  mystic  is  unshakenly,  convincedly,  whole- 
heartedly positive  in  his  spiritual  attitude.  It 
is  not  based  upon  the  balance  of  probability, 
as  is  that  of  the  rationalist.  Nor  is  it  merely 
the  result  of  a  will  to  believe — the  apotheosis  of 
a  preference — like  that  of  the  pragmatist.  It 
is  perceptive  belief,  or,  rather,  it  is  not  belief 
at  all,  he  tells  us,  except  in  its  weaker  and 
untried  forms,  but  the  truest  kind  of  knowledge 
— faith-knowledge. 

"  Book  iv,  chap,  iv;  Bigg's  translation  (italics  mine). 


CHAPTER  VI 
MYSTICISM  AND  PSYCHOLOGY 

To-day  no  adequate  study  can  be  made  of 
mysticism  which  does  not  pay  large  heed  to 
psychology.  And,  indeed,  it  is  but  returning  a 
compliment,  for  recent  psychology  has  paid 
marked  attention  to  mysticism. ^ 

The  mystic  could  not  be  blamed  if  he  looked 
askance  and  with  considerable  suspicion  upon 
the  psychologist.  The  man  who  comes  round 
to  analyze  and  measure  one's  convictions  and 
inspirations  is  not  especially  welcome.  And 
yet  he  certainly  can  do  no  injury  to  an  experi- 
ence that  is  genuine  and  well  grounded,  and 
he  may  help  to  its  better  understanding  and 
evaluation.  At  any  rate,  his  inspection  will  be 
made,  whether  it  is  welcomed  or  not.  If 
psychology  attempts  to  go  beyond  its  province 
in  dealing  with  mysticism,  becomes  supercilious, 
or  dogmatic,  it  is  a  duty  to  challenge  its  asser- 
tions; but  any  fear  of  psychology  on  the  part 


1  Recent   books   upon    Religious   Psychology    (for   example,    Stratton's 
The  Psychology  of  the  Rehgious  Life  and  Leuba's  Psychological  Study  of 
Religion)  have  turned  aside  from  the  psychological  analysis  of  religious 
experience  and  are  chiefly  historical-psychological  studies  of  religion. 
133 


134      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

of  mysticism  would  be  a  weakness,  for  truth 
can  never  be  an  enemy  to  truth. 

We  have  endeavored  to  carry  on  the  entire 
discussion  in  the  Hght  of  its  psychological  bear- 
ings, but  it  now  seems  best  to  give  direct  atten- 
tion to  some  of  the  more  specific  questions 
involved.  There  are  three  problems  which  we 
will  briefly  consider:  (1)  Does  psychology 
resolve  mysticism  into  a  mere  congeries  of 
mental  states?  (2)  Does  it  show  that  mystical 
experience  is  located  in  the  Subconsciousness? 
(3)  What  is  the  relation  of  Suggestion  to  mys- 
ticism? 


May  not  these  experiences,  "deep  seated  in 
our  mystic  frame,"  after  all — such  is  a  query 
suggested  by  psychology — ^be  but  a  method  of 
behavior  of  our  psychical  organism,  freaks  of 
the  frame  itself,  and  nothing  more?  Psychology 
has  made  it  clear  that  mystical  states,  such  as 
conversion  and  ecstasy,  are  very  closely  con- 
nected with  physical  conditions.  May  not 
that  be  the  sum  and  substance  of  them,  and 
all  this  spiritual  side,  of  which  so  much  has 
been  made,  be  merely  a  ghastly  sport  of  nature, 
epiphenomenal  froth,  lying  upon  her  vast 
unconsciousness  like  bubbles  upon  the  bosom 
of  a  lake? 


MYSTICISM  AND  PSYCHOLOGY      135 

Such  a  possibility  must  be  faced,  and  faced 
with  the  understanding  that  though  raised  by 
psychology  it  cannot  be  laid  by  psychology. 
Concerning  mystical  states  and  experience's 
psychology  has  much  to  say;  upon  the  question 
of  their  objective  character,  their  validity,  it 
says,  or  should  say,  nothing.  This  is  not  within 
its  province.  The  psychologist  as  a  thinker,  a 
super-psychologist,  has  a  perfect  right  to 
express  his  judgment  as  to  the  objectivity  of 
mystical  experience,  and  he  has  often  done  this 
with  great  advantage  to  the  problem  involved; 
but  when  he  does  so  he  should  make  it  quite 
clear  that  it  is  he  who  is  speaking  and  not 
psychology. 

It  is  reassuring  to  find  that,  in  the  main,  the 
leading  psychologists  recognize  this  limitation 
of  the  province  of  psychology.  When  they 
have  expressed  themselves  as  to  the  objective 
nature  of  religious  experience  it  has  been,  as 
a  rule,  without  dogmatic  denial  of  its  validity. 
Thus  we  find  Professor  James  saying: 

It  must  always  remain  an  open  question 
whether  mystical  states  may  not  possibly  be 
such  superior  points  of  view,  windows  through 
which  the  mind  looks  out  upon  a  more  extensive 
and  inclusive  world.  The  difference  of  the  views 
seen  from  the  different  mystical  windows  need 
not   prevent    us    from    entertaining    this    sup- 


im      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

position.  The  wider  world  would  in  that  case 
prove  to  have  a  mixed  constitution  like  that  of 
this  world,  that  is  all.^ 

Boutroux,  while  refusing  to  pass  upon  the 
question  of  the  nature  of  mystical  experience, 
attaches  great  importance  to  its  convictions. 
Professors  Ladd,  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Stratton, 
Starbuck,  Pratt,  Coe,  and  others,  without,  in 
most  cases,  attempting  to  pronounce  upon  the 
final  nature  of  religious  experience,  place  a 
high  value  upon  it.^ 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  quite  plausible  to 
resolve  religious  experience  into  mere  psychic 
activity,  as,  for  example,  David  Syme,  in 
writing  of  Jacob  Boehme: 

He  imagines  his  soul  to  be  in  communion  with 
God,  whereas  it  is  only  in  communion  with 
itself,  and  the  communicatidns  which  he  re- 
ceives are  only  the  result  of  the  interaction  of 
his  central  consciousness  and  the  lower  sphere.* 

Perhaps  the  best  reply  to  a  representation  like 

2  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  p.  428. 

'  Munsterberg  says  of  the  truth  of  religion  and  philosophy:  "Such 
over-experience  can  certainly  never  become  a  part  of  the  experienceable 
world  of  physical  existence.  It  remains,  therefore,  imreal,  in  the  narrower 
sense  of  the  word.  But  it  is  a  content  of  our  convictions,  and  as  our  con- 
viction gives  us  the  very  firmest  hold  of  our  actions,  the  final  realization, 
in  the  wider  sense  of  the  word,  is  here  fulfilled  in  the  highest  degree"  (The 
Eternal  Values,  p.  355). 
^     *  The  Soul,  p.  68. 


MYSTICISM  AND  PSYCHOLOGY       137 

that  is  to  let  the  inner  voice,  of  which  Professor 
James  speaks,  whisper,  **Bosh!"  Not  that 
there  are  not  other  things  that  might  be  said 
of  it,  as,  that  this  is  hardly  the  language  in 
which  the  central  consciousness  may  be  sup- 
posed to  converse  with  the  lower;  but  if  one 
chooses  to  restrict  his  view  of  reality  to  physi- 
cal activities,  it  is  useless  to  throw  either  stones 
or  life-savers  at  him.  Enough,  that  for  the 
average  intelligent  person  such  interpretations 
of  his  deeper  inner  life  produce  their  own  refu- 
tation, "Like  a  man  in  wrath,"  the  heart  rises 
up  to  answer,  "I  hav«  felt."^  Not  that  com- 
munion with  God  does  not  involve  "the  inter- 
action of  the  central  consciousness  and  the 
lower  sphere,"  but  to  confine  it  to  that  would 
be  like  confining  conversation  with  your  dearest 
friend  to  the  alternate  action  of  two  juxtaposed 
larynxes. 

n 

A  field  of  study  undertaken  by  the  new 
psychology,  which  seems  to  be  especially  fruit- 
ful for  mysticism,  is  that  of  the  subconscious- 
ness. In  view  of  all  the  diversifications  of 
consciousness  with  which  recent  psychology  has 
favored  us,  including  subconsciousness,  fringe- 

*  For  a  further  discussion  of  this  subject,  the  reader  may  consult  my 
volume,  Personality  and  the  Christian  Ideal,  chaps,  v-viii. 


138      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

consciousness,  and  coconsciousness,  it  is  not 
easy  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  what  is  meant  by 
the  subconscious. 

The  present  tendency  among  psychologists 
seems  to  be  to  attach  the  subconscious  activ- 
ity more  closely  than  at  first  to  the  physical 
nature,  at  any  rate  to  limit  those  wide-reaching 
powers  (including  religion  itself)  attributed  to 
subconsciousness  when  it  first  lifted  itself  above 
the  abyss  into  the  field  of  the  psychological 
consciousness.®  (Just  how  the  subconsciousness 
could  ever  have  become  a  matter  of  conscious- 
ness is  a  problem  which  psychology  has  not  yet 
solved,  but  we  may  pardon  it,  for  its  hands  are 
full.) 

A  large  part  of  our  physical  functioning  goes 
on  without  reporting  itself  at  all  in  conscious- 
ness, or  so  slightly  that  attention  is  not  drawn 
to  it.  Of  how  many  more  of  our  total  existence 
processes,  including  the  moral  and  spiritual, 
this  may  be  true,  it  is  impossible  to  determine. 
It  seems  wholly  reasonable,  however,  to  aflSrm, 
with  Professor  Pratt,  at  least  this : 

The  fringe  region  is  in  no  way  "higher**  or 
"purer"  than  the  center  of  consciousness.     It 


•  A  very  clear  and  careful  resume  of  the  history  of  the  idea  of  subcon- 
sciousness and  of  the  present  attitude  of  psychologists  toward  it  will  be 
found  in  an  article  in  the  Harvard  Theological  Review,  vol.  vi,  No.  2, 
entitled,  "The  Subconscious  and  Religion,"  by  Professor  James  Bissett 
Pratt. 


MYSTICISM  AND  PSYCHOLOGY       139 

contains  evil  as  well  as  good,  or,  rather,  it  con- 
tains neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  but  the 
materials  for  both.  Only  conscious  personality 
is  moral — nothing  is  good  except  a  good  will. 
The  background  is  only  a  background;  it  is  there 
not  for  its  own  sake  but  for  the  sake  of  the  total 
personality.  The  best  and  purest  aspect  of  the 
mind,  the  aspect  of  it  most  highly  developed 
and  most  nobly  human,  is  to  be  found  not  in 
the  obscure  shadows  of  the  background,  but  in 
the  clear  sunlight  of  full  consciousness.^ 

As  I  observe  my  own  states  while  working 
in  my  study,  for  instance,  I  recognize  in  myself 
a  certain  stream  of  consciousness  which  moves 
along  parallel  with  and  below,  so  to  speak,  the 
main  activity  in  which  I  am  engaged.  This 
subordinate  consciousness  is  associated  with  the 
various  organs  of  my  body,  concentrating  more 
fully  now  on  one,  now  on  another.  At  one 
instant,  for  example,  my  eye  catches  the  gilt 
of  a  book-title,  at  the  next  the  glint  of  the  sun- 
shine on  the  floor.  Next,  perhaps,  the  chilliness 
of  the  room  affects  my  skin,  and,  if  suflSciently 
pronounced,  makes  me  uneasy,  so  that  I  cannot 
carry  on  my  main  line  of  thought  readily  until 
it  is  corrected.  Now  the  voice  of  a  child,  sooth- 
ing in  play  or  rasping  in  anger,  reaches  me,  or 
the  blurt  of  an  automobile  oftends  my  ear.    Or 

7  The  Subconscious  and  Religion,  p.  215. 


140      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

perhaps  the  nerves  of  my  stomach  begin  to 
remind  me  that  the  dinner  hour  is  approaching, 
or  should  be.  I  have  every  reason  to  beHeve 
that  sensations  such  as  these  are  only  the  more 
clamant  and  imperious  insurrections  of  a  total 
physical  activity  that  includes  many  separate 
activities — such  as  breathing  and  the  action  of 
the  heart — not  present  to  my  normal  con- 
sciousness at  all. 

This  is  what  I  should  call  subconsciousness. 
It  is  sub  at  least  with  respect  to  one's  main 
consciousness,  to  the  willed  and  purposive 
activity  to  which  he  bends  his  best  powers; 
and  part  of  it  is  so  far  sub  that  he  is  not  aware 
of  it  at  all,  except  through  something  abnormal 
in  its  working.  Through  disturbance,  however, 
it  may  rise  into  his  main  consciousness. 

Now,  this  physical  consciousness,  while  it 
is  mine  and  relates  very  closely  to  my  well- 
being — is,  in  fact,  essential  to  my  very  con- 
tinuance as  a  physical  being — nevertheless  I 
feel  to  be,  not  myself,  not  of  the  substance  and 
fiber  of  my  truest  self,  but  attached  to  me,  like 
a  servant,  or  monitor,  constantly  reporting  to 
me  certain  things  to  which  it  asks  me  to  give 
my  attention.  And  I  ought  consequently  to 
treat  it  precisely  as  I  would  a  servant  who  is, 
on  the  whole,  well-meaning  and  useful,  and  yet 
whom  I  need  to  subject  to  due  and  constant 


MYSTICISM  AND  PSYCHOLOGY       141 

watchfulness.  Sometimes,  for  example,  I. should 
say  to  this  lackey,  "Yes,  this  is  an  important 
matter  that  you  call  to  my  attention,  and  I 
must  attend  to  it,  or  my  whole  physical  organ- 
ism will  suffer  serious  injury,  and  I  myself  be 
thus  crippled  in  my  activity."  At  another  time 
when  my  man  Friday  calls  to  my  notice  some 
very  pleasing  sensation  resulting  from  my  envi- 
ronment, I  may  well  respond,  "Thanks;  this 
is  indeed  worthy  of  my  most  lively  attention; 
for  it  is  capable  of  opening  to  me  that  world  of 
pure  Beauty  and  Truth  to  which  I,  as  a  True 
Self,  belong."  But  again,  and  very  often,  I 
conceive  that  it  is  my  duty  to  say  to  my  sub- 
consciousness, "This  call  of  yours  is  an  annoy- 
ance to  me,  a  distraction;  if  I  yield  to  it,  and 
give  it  first  place  in  my  mind,  I  shall  be  untrue 
to  myself  and  to  the  larger  ends  that  I  am  seek- 
ing to  serve.  Keep  still,  subside,  let  me  alone!" 
So  far,  then,  from  being  the  seat  and  center 
of  the  religious  faculty,  the  subconsciousness 
seems  to  be  at  the  farthest  remove  from  it. 
True,  since  the  senses  are  the  purveyors  and 
allies  of  the  mystical  life,  rightly  used,  this 
physical  consciousness  may  contribute  to  and 
enhance  religious  experience;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  quite  as  often  a  hindrance  and 
obstacle,  so  that  one  feels  that  he  must  endeavor 
to  suppress  it.    For  it  is  from  the  subconscious. 


142      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

for  instance,'  that  tho^  subtle  sensual  sug- 
gestions emanate,  which,  gaining  control  of 
the  imagination,  sometimes  subvert  the  mys- 
tical mind.  Pandulph's  words  in  King  John 
are  applicable  to  this  kind  of  subconscious 
activity : 

And  better  conquest  never  canst  thou  make 
Than  arm  thy  constant  and  thy  nobler  parts 
Against  these  giddy  loose  suggestions.^ 

Ill 

Over  against  this  physical  subconsciousness, 
occupying  quite  another  stratum  of  the  inner 
life,  so  to  speak,  is  what  has  been  called  the 
superconsciousness, — a  consciousness  of  per- 
sonal realities  and  relationships  which  may  bei 
more  or  less  dormant,  but  which  at  times 
press  down  into  consciousness  from  above  just 
as  physical  activities  press  in  from  below.  This 
is  the  realm  of  personal  relationships,  includ-  I 
ing  "God-consciousness." 

The  purpose  of  the  esoteric  mystic,  in  what  . 
he  conceives  to  be  his  highest  and  most  ineffable 
experience,  is  to  have  the  God-consciousness 
completely  rule  and  absorb  every  other  form 
of  consciousness.  He  smites  the  chord  of  self 
that  it  may  pass  in  music  out  of  sight  and  leave  I 
God  alone.    His  whole  desire  is  that  God  may 

8  King  John,  Act  iii,  Scene  1. 


MYSTiafsM  AND  PSYCHOLOGY      143 

be  all  in  all.  He  desires  to  sink  himself  com- 
pletely. And  yet  he  wants  to  be  conscious 
that  God  is  all  in  all.  He  is  no  weary  sigher 
for  self-annihilation.  To  have  everything  cease 
to  be,  including  God,  would  be  to  him  the 
worst  of  calamities.  No;  in  his  experience  of 
the  Allness  of  God,  he  desires  his  own  con^ 
sdousness  to  be  at  its  highest  tension. 

This  experience  involves  self-consciousness  of 
a  certain  sort,  for,  though  he  does  not  always 
see  it,  the  more  real  becomes  his  consciousness 
of  God,  the  more  real  becomes  his  consciousness 
of  himself  as  conscious  of  God.  Every  fiber  of 
his  higher  self  is  awake  and  active.  Tennyson's 
description  of  his  "waking  trances,"  though 
they  were  not  of  a  deeply  religious  type,  illus- 
trates this: 

This  [a  kind  of  waking  trance]  has  come  upon 
me  through  repeating  my  own  name  to  myself 
silently,  till  all  at  once,  as  it  were  out  of  the 
intensity  of  individuality,  individuality  itself 
seemed  to  dissolve  and  fade  away  into  bound- 
less being,  and  this  not  a  confused  state  but  the 
clearest,  the  surest  of  the  surest,  utterly  beyond 
words.  At  another  time,  as  recalled  by  Tyndall, 
Tennyson  said  of  this  state,  It  is  no  nebulous 
ecstasy,  but  a  state  of  transcendent  wondery 
associated  with  absolute  clearness  of  mind.® 


»  See  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  p.  384,  Note. 


^' 


144      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

As  one  reads  the  narrative  of  the  states  of 
apparent  unconsciousness  in  which  some  of  the 
mediaeval  mystics  believed  they  came  into  the 
closest  communion  with  God,  the  query  rises 
whether — apart  from  the  question  of  the  normal- 
ity of  these  experiences — psychology,  or,  if  not 
psychology,  then  humanity,  will  not  come  to 
the  conclusion  promulgated  by  Hudson  some 
years  ago,  that  there  is  no  real,  that  is,  com- 
plete, unconsciousness,  that  the  spiritual  mind, 
or  the  self,  is  by  its  very  nature  ever  wakeful 
and  cognizant,  in  sleep,  in  coma,  in  all  appar- 
ently unconscious  states.^"  This  higher  spiritual 
consciousness  of  ours  which  keeps  us  in  touch 
with  the  spiritual  universe  corresponds  to  yet 
contrasts  with  the  subconsciousness  which  unites 
us  with  the  physical  universe.  It  may  be  called 
a  superconsciousness  by  means  of  which,  even 
while  we  are  occupied  with  more  immediate/ 
concerns,  there  break  in  upon  us  flashes  from! 
that  larger  world  of  which  we  are  already  a 
part.'' 

IV 

As  to  suggestion,  in  its  relation  to  mysticism, 
it  would  require  an  entire  volume  to  discuss 

10  "The  subjective  mind  is  ever  awake  during  the  sleep  of  the  body  and 
ever  active"  (Hudson:  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,  p.  180). 

"  This  may  be  what  Professor  James  really  meant,  though  he  failed  to 
distinguish  it  cleariy  from  the  physical  subconsciousness. 


MYSTICISM  ANT)  PSYCHOLOGY       145 

what  suggestion  is,  and  several  more  to  discuss 
the  relationship  between  it  and  mysticism. 

If  one  were  to  take  the  definition  of  sugges- 
tion given  by  Boris  Sidis,  there  is  apparently 
little  connection  between  it  and  mysticism: 

By  suggestion  is  meant  the  intrusion  into 
the  mind  of  an  idea,  met  with  more  or  less 
opposition  by  the  person;  accepted  uncritically 
at  last;  and  realized  unreflectively,  almost 
automatically.  ^2 

The  mystic's  ideas  are  not  intrusive,  uncritical, 
and  unreflective,  though  they  are  often  so 
regarded.  And  yet  the  mystic  is  certainly  one 
who  has  what  Miinsterberg  would  say  is  the 
characteristic  of  suggestion — "a  belief  in  an 
idea,  an  acceptance  of  the  idea  as  real,  and  the 
dismissal  of  the  opposite  idea  as  unreal. "^^  In 
fact,  he  may  be  called,  as  Boutroux  intimates, 
a  man  of  one  idea^ ..airionoidealist.  This,  how- 
ever, as  Boutroux  goes  on  to  say,  is  no  dis- 
credit; for  every  genius,  in  fact  every  one  with 
a  mission,  is  in  a  sense,  a  person  of  one  idea." 
It  is,  however,  the  character  and  relative  value 
of  the  idea — provided  it  be  not  too  exclusive — 
that  determines  sanity,  and  not  its  dominance. 


12  The  Psychology  of  Suggestion,  p.  15. 

"  Psychotherapy,  p.  100. 

"  La  Psychologie  du  Mysticisme,  pp.  19,  20. 


UG      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

"In  such  cases  as  Kant  and  Beethoven,"  says 
Von  Hiigel,  "a  classifier  of  humanity  according 
to  its  psycho-physical  phenomena  alone  would 
put  these  great  discoverers  and  creators,  without 
hesitation,  amongst  hopeless  and  useless  hypo- 
chondriacs.'^^ Yet,  if  this  is  insanity,  most  of 
us  would  like  more  of  it.  Indeed,  one  might 
well  call  a  person  insane  whose  ideas  were  all 
on  the  same  level,  the  higher  failing  to  rule  the 
lower. 

As  between  suggestion  and  autosuggestion, 
the  mystic  ranks  as  an  autosuggestionist  rather 
than  as  one  who  takes  suggestion  readily  from 
others.  He  is  reflective  rather  than  mercurial, 
inhibiting  ideas  that  do  not  commend  them- 
selves to  his  deeper  spiritual  intuition  and 
judgment.  As  such  he  is  the  conservator  of 
true  religion  and  moral  values,  the  foe  alike 
of  conventional  and  of  hysterical  ideas  and 
activities. 

If  one  would  know  the  extent  of  the  evil 
which  these  two  latter  types  of  mind — the  con- 
ventional and  the  hysterical — have  wrought, 
let  him  study,  on  the  one  side,  the  history  of 
blind,  unreflective  religious  conservatism,  with 
its  obscurantism,  its  sluggishness,  its  perse- 
cutions, its  inquisitions,  its  heresy-hunting, 
and,  on  the  other,  the  history  of  mental  epi- 

1*  Vol.  ii,  p.  42,  quoted  by  Miss  Underbill,  Mysticism,  p.  72. 


MYSTICISM  AND  PSYCHOLOGY      147 

demies,  as  he  will  find  it  outlined,  for  example, 
in  Part  III  of  Sidis's  Psychology  of  Suggestion. 
It  is  to  the  mystic  mind,  as  well  as  to  the 
common-sense,  rational  mind, — quiet,  self-as- 
sured, yet  daring,  and  having  something  besides 
criticism  to  offer, — that  the  progress  toward 
religious  sanity  and  true  faith  has  been  largely 
due. 

In  a  sense,  therefore,  the  mystic  doubtless 
uses  autosuggestion.  But  to  allow  that  term 
to  explain  the  nature  of  mysticism,  or  to  decide 
the  question  of  its  objective  reality,  would  be 
like  defining  love  as  a  physical  instinct  and 
stopping  with  that.  Love  is  a  physical  instinct, 
and  more.  Mysticism  may  be  autosuggestive  - 
and  more. 

There  is  both  suggestion  and  autosuggestion, 
thinks  Bishop  Brent,  in  prayer;  but  if  so,  that 
does  not  remove  from  it  the  character  of  com- 
munion with  God. 

Prayer,  which  is  at  once  an  appeal  to  the 
Source  of  Life  to  let  loose  saving  health  in  our 
direction  and  an  opening  of  our  being  for  the 
reception  of  hidden  and  unknown  aid,  is  a 
higher  form  of  psychic  effort  than  either  sug- 
gestion or  autosuggestion,  in  that  it  includes 
-  both,  though  not  precluding  the  concurrent  use 
of  either. ^^ 


"  The  Sixth  Sense,  p.  45. 


148      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

"Autosuggestion,"  as  Rufus  M.  Jones  says, 
"may  be  only  another  way  of  saying  that  God 
and  man  are  conjunct  in  the  soul,  and  that,  in 
the  deeps  of  the  soul,  beyond  our  power  of 
knowing  how,  Divine  suggestions  come  to 
human  consciousness."'^ 

Psychology  has  undoubtedly  opened  a  line 
of  attack  by  which  the  detractors  of  the  mys- 
tical— to  their  own  satisfaction  and  sometimes 
to  the  consternation  of  such  as  are  easily  over- 
come by  superficial  reasoning — may  resolve 
religious  experience  away.  On  the  other  hand, 
rightly  interpreted,  psychology  has  greatly 
reemphasized  the  significance  of  the  mystical 
element  in  religion  and  has  shown  how  deeply 
it  grounds  in  our  total  nature  and  constitution. 

»7  Studies  in  Mystical  Religion,  p.  xxxiii. 


CHAPTER  VII 
NORMAL  MYSTICISM 

As  one  looks  back  over  its  history  mysticism 
appears  an  almost  shoreless  sea — intangible  in 
its    nature,    multitudinous    in    its    expression, 
swept  by   diverse   winds   and  currents.     And 
yet,   with  all  its  inclusiveness  and  wealth  of 
meaning,  its  variations,  its  inconsistencies,  its 
paradoxes,  there  is  in  it  an  untroubled  deep,", 
an  underlying  motive  which  gives  it  unity.    It  \  (y^ 
exalts  spirit.     It  finds  in  life  eternal  realities  \ 
and  values.     "The  mystic  is  one  who  sees  all   1 
things  in  God."^     Not  that  God  is  conceived  ) 
in  the  same  way  by  all  the  mystics.    Their  con- 
ceptions of  him  differ  widely,  some  identifying 
him  with  Nature,  others  with  Spirit;  some  con- 
ceiving him  as  the  All,  others  as  a  Person.    Yet 
to  all  alike  he  is  the  Supreme  Reality. 

This  common  principle  serves  to  set  off 
mysticism  from  all  attitudes  of  mind  which 
either  deny  the  existence  of  God,  or,  admitting 
it,  fail  to  make  him  real,  and  thus  to  "see  all 
things  in  him."    Mysticism  is  radically  opposed, 

1  George  A.  Gordon:  "The  Mystic  and  his  Ideal,"  Revelation  and  the 
Ideal,  p.  86. 

149 


/, 


150      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 


^ 


that  is,  to  all  forms  of  naturalism,  skepticism, 
positivism,  agnosticism,  rationalism,  and  insti- 
tutionalism.  Denial  of  God,  or  of  direct  access 
to  him,  is  to  the  mystical  mind  the  one  great 
error  and  blindness,  the  one  measureless  loss. 

That  this  consciousness  of  God  is  vital,  and 
radically  affects  life  and  conduct,  can  hardly 
be  open  to  doubt.  That  which  chiefly  concerns 
us  in  this  chapter  is  to  further  differentiate 
within  mysticism,  to  distinguish  between  its 
essential  and  peripheral,  its  normal  and  abnor- 
mal, forms  and  developments.  In  order  to  do 
this  more  fully  let  us  make  a  brief  review  of 
mysticism  in  its  broader  aspects. 

I 

Three  interblending  but  distinguishable  mys- 
tical currents  flow  through  the  history  of 
religion.  The  first  may  be  called  instinctive 
mysticism,  the  second  contemplative  or  reflec- 
tive mysticism,  and  the  third  personal  mys- 
ticism. 

The  first,  instinctive,  or  natural,  mysticism,  is 
characterized  by  its  close  association  with  sense 
experience  and  its  comparative  lack  of  reflec- 
tion. It  is  uppermost  in  many  phases  of  primi- 
tive religion,  in  certain  crude  social  cults,  and 
in  nature  worship.  It  may  be  induced  by  or 
accompany  either  the  inhibiting  or  the  stimu- 


NORMAL  MYSTICISM  151 

lating  of  sensation.  In  the  form  of  sense  inhibi- 
tion it  is  found  in  the  Yoga,  in  various  mystery 
cults,  in  the  self-denial  of  the  anchorites  and 
certain  of  the  monastic  orders,  and  in  the 
asceticisms  of  the  mediaeval  saints.  In  the- 
form  of  sense  stimulation  it  is  present  in  the 
social  phenomena  of  the  mystery  religions,  in 
various  religious  enthusiasms,  and  in  lower  types 
of  church  revivals.  The  highest  expression  of  \  iy^ 
this  form  of  mysticism  is  in  the  sensitive  /^ 
response  to  nature  on  the  part  of  nature  lovers 
and  poets. 

Conteni'plative  or  reflective  mysticism  finds  its 
chief  embodiment  in  the  Platonic  type  of 
mysticism.  Relying  as  it  does  upon  intuition 
as  the  method  of  reaching  truth,  and  thus 
attesting  itself  as  essentially  mystical,  Platonic 
mysticism  nevertheless  puts  truth  somewhat  at 
a  distance,  to  be  known  by  beholding  rather 
than  by  communion,  to  be  attained  or  verified 
by  dialectic.  It  thus  tends  toward  abstraction 
and  speculation  rather  than  toward  personal 
realization.  Contemplative  mysticism  passed 
from  Platonism  to  Neoplatonism  and  thence 
into  the  speculative  mysticism  of  Dionysius 
and  Erigena  and  greatly  influenced  the  sub- 
sequent history  of  mysticism.  In  modern 
philosophy  it  has  had  its  representatives  in  i 
such  thinkers  as  Spinoza  and  Emerson.     Its 


Y 


152      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

tendency  has  been  to  pass  out  of  the  mystical 
into  the  rationahstic  atmosphere.  Yet  it  has 
always  avoided  pure  rationalism. 

The  third  form  of  mysticism,  personal  mys- 
ticism, finds  its  center  in  personal  relationships 
and  values  and  the  inner  secret  of  reality  in 
personal  communion  with  a  personal  God.^ 
One  may  detect  its  beginnings  in  the  proto- 
theism  of  early  religion.  From  primitive  mys- 
ticism religion  moved  either  toward  the  removal 
of  God  to  a  distance,  where  he  was  all  but  lost 
amid  the  urgent  claims  of  practical  polytheism, 
or  toward  an  ever  clearer,  deeper,  and  more 
intimate  conception  of  and  communion  with 
the  Divine  Person.  In  personal  mysticism 
the  Hebrew  mind  was  foremost,  as  was  the 
Greek  in  contemplative  mysticism.  Moses,  the 
prophets,  the  psalmists,  Jesus,  Paul — these  are 
the  predecessors  of  a  great  company  of  per- 
sonal mystics  including  Augustine,  Saint  Fran- 
cis, Luther,  Wesley,  George  Fox,  Jonathan 
Edwards,  Frederick  Robertson,  John  G.  Whit- 
tier,  Phillips  Brooks,  and  countless  others. 
t  In  this  latter  form  of  mysticism  and  this 
body  of  mystics  are  found  the  strongest  evi- 
dences of  normality.  These  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth,  the  leaven  hid  in  the  meal,  the  light  of 


'  Of  course  these  types  of  mysticism  shade  off  into  each  other,  but  that 
does  not  make  the  distinction  less  valid. 


NORMAL  MYSTICISM  153 

the  world.  Not  that  there  are  not  mystics  of 
the  other  two  types  who  have  been  as  lights  in 
the  world.  Not  that  personal  features  are 
wholly  absent  from  the  instinctive  mysticism 
which  finds  spiritual  revelations  in  nature,  and 
in  the  contemplative  mysticism  which  leads  to 
rational  and  profound  interpretation  of  truth 
and  life;  but  the  personal  character  of  truth  is 
too  subordinate  in  these  forms. 

Personal  mysticism,  while  it  is  characterized 
by  the  child  spirit,  is  not  therefore  unreflective 
and  immature.  It  may  be  such  in  the  eyes  of 
that  "wisdom  of  this  world  which  is  foolish-^ 
ness,"  but  in  the  real  maturity  which  has 
returned  from  youthful  wandering  after  dis- 
tant truths  to  the  homeland  of  the  great, 
simple,  inexhaustible  realities  that  lie  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  life,  personal  mysticism  is 
incomparably  rich. 

II 

Without  seeking  to  fix  any  arbitrary  canons, 
as  a  result  of  our  study,  we  may  arrive  at  cer- 
tain conclusions  as  to  what  constitutes  normal 
mysticism,  which  may  be  summed  up  thus: 

1.     Mysticism   is   most   normal   when   it   is       a^ 
anchored  to  the  experience  of  God  as  a  Per- 
sonal Presence  and  avoids  all  speculation  which 
does  not  flow  out  of  and  return  to  this  experi- 


154      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

ence.  When  speculation,  as  in  the  ease  of  the 
Neoplatonic  mystics,  gets  away  from  experi- 
ence it  is  Hke  a  kite  that  has  broken  its  cord. 
Only  as  it  is  held  firmly  to  experience  can  it 
rise  steadily  to  its  greatest  height. 

If  it  be  asked,  "What,  then,  is  religious  ex- 
perience.?" care  must  be  taken  not  to  identify 
/^experience  with  mere  feeling.  It  is,  rather,  as 
Schleiermacher  held,  both  intuition  and  feeling. 
It  is  the  certainty  that  attaches  to  self-con- 
sciousness and  the  consciousness  of  others.  It 
is  the  sense  of  reality  which  ensues  when  one 
person  communes  with  another.  It  is  the  con- 
fidence that  comes. 

When  one  who  loves  and  knows  not 
Learns  from  one  who  loves  and  knows. 

It  is  the  truth,  that  is,  that  not  only  comes 

through  personality  but  is  itself  personal  truth. ^ 

2.     Mysticism  is  wholly  normal  only  when 

,jv\    it  enters  into  service  of  some  kind,   either  in 

I    active  helpfulness  or  unselfish  suffering. 

The  mystics  of  the  Orders,  such  as  Francis, 
Bernard,  Clara,  Francis  of  Sales,  Teresa,  Vin- 
cent de  Paul,  exemplified  an  active  mysticism. 
A  wholly  introspective,  self-centered  mysticism 

3  "Practically,  our  knowledge  of  God  is  personal  knowledge.  The 
kiSowledge  of  a  person  is  easier,  more  direct,  more  certain,  than  the  knowl- 
edge of  a  proposition.  .  .  .  We  know  whom  we  have  believed"  (M.  H. 
Buckham:  The  Very  Elect,  p.  27). 


/ 


NORMAL  MYSTICISM  155 

cannot  be  other  than  abnormal,  however 
refined  may  be  the  results  it  produces  in  self- 
discipline  and  devotion.  Yet  there  is  more 
than  one  form  of  service,  and  those  who  are 
shut  out  of  active  service  may,  by  prayer  and 
vicarious  bearing  of  suffering — whether  it  be 
their  own  which  has  come  upon  them  through 
a  disturbed  moral  order,  or  that  of  others — 
fulfill  a  true  ministry  of  service.  Through  the 
deepening  sense  of  the  solidarity  of  humanity 
we  are  coming  to  see  that  love-suffering  is  a 
vital  part  of  the  great  redemptive  process  and 
that  he  who  accepts  suffering,  or  limitation,  in 
this  spirit,  is  helping,  with  Jesus,  to  bear,  and 
so  to  bear  away,  the  sin  of  the  world.  This 
essentially  mystical  experience  places  suffering 
in  a  new  and  transforming  light. 

3.  That  only  is  normal  mysticism  which  r 
however  deeply  it  seeks  to  enter  into  communion  ,  j^ 
with  the  Divine,  never  passes  the  bounds  ofj 
reverence,  either  in  reality  or  in  expression.  \ 
It  would  be  captious,  let  me  repeat,  as  well  as 
irreverent,  to  criticize,  with  cold  nonchalance, 
such  saints  as  Teresa,  Henry  Suso,  Juan  of  the 
Cross,  Madame  Guy  on,  and  David  Brainerd; 
and  yet  we  cannot  regard  such  extremes  of 
piety,  however  admirable,  as  wholly  normal. 

It  is  true  that  we  have  found  the  mystic  way 
and  its  stages  to  be  grounded  in  general  spiritual 


156      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

experience,  and  that  counterparts  of  purgation, 
illumination,  and  even  of  ecstasy  are  to  be 
traced  in  normal  present-day  religious  experi- 
ence. But  the  extremes  to  which  all  these 
experiences  were  often  carried  in  mediaeval 
mysticism  cannot  but  seem  to  us,  not  unreal — 
for  in  one  sense  they  are  most  real  and  vivid — 
but  out  of  keeping  with  the  harmony  of  a  sane 
and  well-balanced  life. 

\4.     That  only  is  normal  mysticism — indeed, 
mysticism  at  all — which  avoids  completely  the 
magical,    whether    in    occultism,    spiritualism, 
ritualism,    sacerdotalism,   or   any   other   form. 
Mysticism  and  magic  are  opposing  terms. 
4      5.     Mysticism  is  wholly  normal  only  when 
^  lit  keeps  God,  not  apart  from  nature,  but  dis- 
f^  Itinct  from  nature.     Whether  speculatively,  as 
lin  Jacob  Boehme's  monism,  or  practically,  as 
in  the  cosmic  mysticism  of'Bucke,  Whitman, 
and  others,  God  is  too  closely  identified  with 
the  cosmos,  the  result  is  a  defective  sense  of  the 
/^x      transcendent  worth  of  personality  and  is  likely 
to   lead   to   a   depreciation   of   ethical   values. 
What  is  needed,  as  Bergson  has  said,  is  "to  see 
I       the  life  of  the  body  just  where  it  really  is: — on 
the  road  that  leads  to  the  life  of  the  spirit." 

6.  Above  all.  Christian  mysticism  is  nor- 
mal only  when  it  keeps  in  close  touch  with 
Jesus  Christ.     It  is,  in  one  way,  surprising  to 


yj 


NORMAL  MYSTICISM  157 

see  how  far  Christian  mysticism  has  at  times 
wandered  from  its  orbit  of  fealty  to  Christ. 
The  Dionysian,  speculative,  absolutistic  type 
of  mysticism  is,  in  fact,  quite  as  much,  if  not 
more,  Hellenic  than  Christian.  It  is  Neo- 
platonism  flowing  on  under  Christian  skies. 
So  influential  was  this  type  of  mysticism  in  the 
Middle  Ages  that  many  regarded  it  as  the  very 
essence  of  mysticism."*  Yet  it  is,  in  reality,  a 
deflection  from  the  original  and  normal  Chris- 
tian mysticism  communicated  by  Jesus  to  his 
disciples  and  concentrated  in  Paul's  "in  Christ" 
mysticism. 

Although  this  personal,  Christ-filled  mys- 
ticism has  at  times  received  less  of  literary 
expression,  it  has  been  vital  and  saline  always. 
In  the  great  organizing  and  ministrant  mystics* 
like  Saint  Francis,  Teresa,  Catherine  of  Genoa, 
Vincent  de  Paul;  in  the  Friends  of  God;  in 
Jacob  Boehme  and  William  Law,  and  later  in 
Pietism;  in  Wesleyanism,  and  even  in  Evan- 
gelicalism— where  it  has  burned  on  amid  much 
doctrinal  dross — it  has  shown  itself  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation  even  to  our  own  day.  It 
is  true  that  this  Christ  mysticism  became  at 
times  widely  detached  from  the  historic  Jesus. 


*  Instances  of  this  recur  constantly  in  philosophical  and  historical  as 
well  as  theological  discussions  of  mysticism.  As  a  recent  instance  the 
article  by  Professor  Loofs,  "Lutheranism  and  Mysticism,"  in  The  Con- 
structive Quarterly  of  December,  1914,  may  be  cited.    See  especially  p.  741. 


158      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

In  some  of  its  phases,  as  in  the  trance-mys- 
ticism of  mediaeval  saints  and  in  the  self- 
suppression  of  the  Quietists,  it  displayed  abnor- 
mal and  often  repellent  features.  Yet  it  is 
altogether  too  potent  and  pervasive  a  mani- 
festation of  the  universal  Christian  spirit  to 
be  regarded,  as  it  has  been  by  Ritschlianism, 
as  a  Roman  Catholic  type  of  piety.  Professor 
Hermann  treats  mysticism  itself  as  in  its  very 
nature  a  Christ-minimizing  form  of  piety. ^  On 
the  contrary,  barring  the  speculative  current  of 
which  we  have  just  been  speaking,  mysticism 
would  seem  to  be,  on  the  whole,  deeply  Christo- 
centric.  True,  its  Christ,  as  in  the  case  of  Paul 
himself,  is  the  living,  indwelling  Christ  rather 
than  the  historic  Jesus;  yet  the  latter,  at  least 
among  the  practical  mystics,  is  by  no  means 
forgotten,  but  is,  on  the  contrary,  ever  present 
and  determinative  in  the  background,  as  the 
ideal  divine-human  revelation  of  God.  We 
maintain  that  the  personal,  Christo-centric 
form  of  mysticism  is  its  most  normal  and  vital 
form. 

Ill 

In  the  several  forms  of  historic  mysticism — 
including  the  personal — are  to  be  found  many 
exaggerated  and  one-sided  developments  and 

*  See  his  Communion  with  God. 


NORMAL  MYSTICISM  159 

intensifications  of  truths  beyond  their  due. 
Indeed,  we  have  discovered  deficiencies  and 
limitations  attending  the  very  nature  of  mys- 
ticism which  require  to  be  supplemented  in  the 
interest  of  life  as  a  whole.  All  of  these — both 
exaggerations  and  limitations — arise  from  the 
same  cause,  which  we  may  perhaps  call  the 
tendency  to  religious  specialization. 

In  fact,  mysticism,  just  because  it  is  religion 
in  its  purest  and  most  characteristic  form,  is 
prone  to  push  the  claims  of  religion — if  one  may 
so  speak — to  excess,  overweighting  the  natural 
balance  and  proportion  of  life. 

Is  it  possible,  then,  to  be  too  religious  .^^  Can 
one  possess  too  much  of  this  best  and  highest 
of  all  good  things.'^  Yes,  if  religion  is  under- 
stood in  one  way;  no,  if  understood  in  another. 
An  arresting  and  significant  sentence  of  Baron 
von  Hiigel  may  serve  us  here.  It  is  this:  "Our 
entire  religious  activity  is  but  one  element  of  our 
complete  spiritual  life."  Religion  itself,  that 
is,  does  not  compass  the  entire  impact  of  God 
upon  human  life,  although  it  constitutes  the 
heart  of  it  and  hallows  the  whole.  Human 
life  is  marvelously  wide  and  varied  and  absorb- 
ing in  its  interests  and  activities.  It  is  just 
this  fact  that  may  be  either  its  glory  or  its  curse. 
That  it  has  been  too  often  its  curse  is  the  fact 
that  many  a  world-fearing  mystic  has  seen  and 


160      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

sought  to  escape,  even  at  the  cost  of  the  im- 
poverishment and  mutilation  of  life.  Offended 
by  his  right  hand,  he  has  cut  it  off,  and  by  his 
right  eye,  he  has  plucked  it  out,  and  thus  has 
entered,  though  maimed,  into  life.  That  this  is 
far  better  than  having  both  hands  and  eyes  to 
be  cast  into  the  hell  of  materialism,  sensuality, 
and  worldliness  there  can  be  no  doubt.  And 
yet  denial,  impoverishment,  mutilation  is  not 
the  ideal  life.  It  is,  as  Jesus  implies,  an  expe- 
dient for  the  divided  life — a  resort  for  the  be- 
leaguered man  rather  than  a  principle  for  the 
free  man.  Jesus  himself  came  eating  and 
drinking,  taking  life  with  a  generous  and  vic- 
torious freedom,  and  so  in  the  end  will  it  be 
with  his  disciples.  The  new  mysticism,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  rightly  seeking  simplification,  not 
by  exclusion  but  by  unification. 

All  of  life  is  sacred  and  may  mediate  God  to 
men.  Science,  art,  commerce,  industry,  labor, 
society — all  may  be  made  holy.  This  is  what 
the  mystics  of  the  past  could  not,  except  in 
rare  instances  and  with  limited  vision,  see. 
Therefore  they  sought  to  escape  the  perils  of 
life  by  entering  at  once  and  as  far  as  possible 
into  the  inner  sanctuary  of  religion,  whence 
they  did  not  often  enough  emerge  to  transform 
life  with  the  mystic  vision.  Thus  they  became 
too  often  priests  only,  and  not  also  prophets. 


NORMAL  MYSTICISM  161 

IV 

Granted  that  mysticism  has  a  place  at  the\ 
very  heart  of  Hf e  and  has  proven  itself  invaluable  j  ^.^j 
to  a  large  number  of  men  and  women,  is  it/ 
adapted  to  all?     Can  it  meet  this  searching 
test  of   normality — adaptability?^      Can   it   be 
shown   to   be   an   experience,    not   necessarily 
restricted  to  an  especial  type  or  temperament, 
but   so    deeply    and    thoroughly    human    that 
without  it,  in  some  form,  no  one  can  realize  his 
true  selfhood?    That  is  much  the  same  as  ask-N^v^ 
ing  if  a  personal  religious  experience  of  some\ 
sort  is  possible  to  every  man.     In  view  of  the  \ 
almost    limitless    divergences    of    human    per-  j 
sonality,  this  is  a  bold  assumption.    Mysticism  / 
has  not  made  it  in  any   assertive  or  propa-// 
gandist  fashion,  yet  it  is  implicit  in  its  verv 
nature.     However  deficient  in  endowment  he 
may  be,  however  steeped  in  sin,  Christianity 
assumes  that  every  man  is  capable  of  religion. 
In  saying  "//  any  man  is  athirst,^*  it  is  implied 
that  every  man  is  athirst,  for  he  is  made  for  God, 
as  Augustine  said,  and  cannot  rest   until  he 
rests  in  him. 

There  is,  to  be  sure,  a  great  difference  in  the 
degree  of  religious  susceptibility  among  men; 
but  upon  closer  view  this  is  seen  to  be,  in  part 

*»  This  question  has  been   already  broached  in  the   chapter,   "Cosmic 
Mysticism,"  but  its  importance  calls  for  further  consideration. 


162      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

at  least,  a  predisposition  toward  a  given  form 
of  experience  only.  Mysticism,  like  religion 
itself,  of  which  it  is  the  core,  has,  as  we  have 
seen,  many  forms  and  manifestations.  Some- 
times it  is  intense  and  passionate;  again  it  is 
serene  and  reflective.  It  has  many  forms  of 
expression.  One  mystic,  like  Anthony,  cleaves 
to  his  cave;  another,  like  Thomas  k  Kempis, 
to  his  cell;  another  engages  in  untiring  activity, 
like  Saint  Francis;  one,  like  Joan  of  Arc,  battles; 
another,  like  Saint  Teresa,  prays  without  ceas- 
ing; one  elects  to  preach,  agitate,  reform,  like 
Savonarola;  another,  like  Fra  Angelico,  to  paint 
pictures;  one,  like  Luther,  is  robust  and  ener- 
getic; another,  like  Catherine  of  Siena,  delicate 
and  anemic. 

Professor    Hocking,    commenting    upon    the 
diversities  of  mysticism,  writes  as  follows: 

But  note  well  that  while  the  mystic  of  genius 
is  a  natural  product,  the  mystic  impulse  is  not 
a  matter  of  special  temperament,  for  there  are 
mystics  in  all  temperaments.  This  incentive 
is  deep  enough  in  human  nature  to  take  various 
forms  according  to  the  disposition  of  the 
mind.  .  .  .  There  are  practical  and  world- 
moving  mystics  as  well  as  dreamy  ones.  .  .  . 
The  love  of  God  also  will  be  colored  by  every 
defect  of  the  lover.^ 


7  The  Meaning  of  God  in  Human  Experience,  p.  361. 


NOKMAL  MYSTICISM  163 

The  term  "mystic"  has  been  quite  too  com- 
monly confined  to  the  more  intense  and  impas- 
sioned of  their  number.  The  impression  has 
thus  been  formed  that,  because  the  less  highly 
endowed  of  men  have  no  very  intense  religious 
experiences,  these  exceptional  saints  are  the 
only  mystics.  It  would  be  far  more  reasonable, 
instead  of  confining  mysticism  to  its  con- 
spicuous representatives,  to  make  due  account 
of  its  differing  degrees  and  varieties.  One  must 
take  into  account,  for  instance,  the  difference 
between  a  Scotch  mystic  and  a  Negro  mystic. 
As  Boutroux  has  said:  "Taking  the  word  *mys- 
ticism'  in  its  large  historic  sense,  it  does 
not  seem  that  one  has  the  right  to  class  the 
mystics  among  the  sick  (malades),"^  Indeed, 
it  mighf  be  truer  to  say  that  the  man  who  has 
no-  mysticism  in  him  is  the  abnormal  man. 
One  wonders  if  it  were  not  mysticism,  under 
cover  of  music,  that  Shakespeare  had  in  mind 
when  he  said  that  its  absence  indicated  fit- 
ness "for  treason,  stratagems,  and  spoils." 
At  all  events,  the  person  who  is  entirely 
without  a  touch  of  mysticism  in  him  is  a 
rarity.  As  Father  Tyrrell  said:  "Every  one 
is  something  of  a  mystic,  no  one  is  nothing 
but  a  mystic."^ 

"  La  Psychologic  du  Mysticisme,  p.  6. 
9  See  Hibbert  Journal,  vol.  x,  2,  p.  428. 


164     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

V 

The  mystic  mind  shades  off  into  the  general 
religious  mind  so  imperceptibly  that  a  com- 
prehensive history  of  mysticism  would  be  almost 
coincident  with  a  history  of  religion  itself  in  its 
deeper  underflow.  To  select  here  and  there  a 
person  or  a  group  of  persons  to  be  entitled 
mystics  means  to  pass  by  myriads  of  others, 
many,  perhaps,  quite  as  worthy  of  the  name. 
There  are,  it  is  true,  exceptional  mystics,  who 
are  in  the  van  of  the  religious  life,  and  when 
we  speak  of  the  mystics  it  is  to  them  that  we 
refer.  But  they  are  only  the  leaders.  The 
great  company  of  mystics  is  more  than  can  be 
numbered,  out  of  every  nation  and  of  all 
tribes  and  peoples,  standing  before  the  throne 
and  serving  Him  day  and  night  in  his  tem- 
ple. 

There  are,  it  is  true,  many  apparently  "non- 
religious"  persons.  But  there  is  no  telling  when 
the  most  irreligious  of  men  may  be  shaken  to 
the  very  center  of  his  being  by  an  experience 
that  quickly  transfers  him  to  the  ranks  of  the 
mystics.  To  err  is  human;  to  be  spiritually 
callous  is  human;  but  to  be  spiritually-minded 
is  still  more  human.  Schleiermacher  goes  so 
far  as  to  say,  "Supposed  instances  of  a  human 
self-consciousness  that  is  destitute  of  the  God- 
consciousness  disappear  on  close  analysis,  except 


NORMAL  MYSTICISM  165 

in  those  individuals  whose  intelligence  is  entirely 
undeveloped."^^ 

The  question  whether  a  man  can  be  normal 
without  being  religious  is  by  no  means  settled 
when  you  have  pointed  to  the  plentiful  number 
of  desirable  citizens  and  good  neighbors  who 
attend  no  church,  subscribe  to  no  creed,  and 
engage  in  no  stated  forms  of  devotion.    Millions 
have  religious  experiences,  more  or  less  intense, 
who  have  never  avowed  them,  and  other  mil- 
lions  might  have  them   who  have  not.     WSm 
must  go  deeper  than  the  outer  forms  and  ask  / 
whether  there  is  not  some  mystic  spring  in  every  /    /^j 
normal  person,  hidden  perhaps  even  from  him4       J.-^-^* 
self,  that  is  secretly  watering  his  life  and  giving      '^W 
it  worth  and  verdure.    It  is  an  assertion  quite)  aj^ 

within  the  bounds  of  moderation  that  one 
cannot  be  really  good  without  being,  in  some 
sort  and  degree,  mystical;  without  having, 
that  is,  something  of  the  tenderness  and  sympa- 
thy for  his  fellow  men  and  of  outreach  toward  a 
life  beyond  the  world  of  sense  inseparable  from 
personal  faith.  Until  this  faith  is  awakened  in 
a  man  he  is  subhuman,  abnormal. 

A  serious  oversight  has  been  made  in  over- 
looking the  social  nature  of  mysticism.  While 
it  is  true  that  the  typical  mystics  are  in  the  best 
sense  individualists,  and  while  mysticism  tends 

"  Cross:  The  Theology  of  Schleiermacher,  p.  154. 


vX 


166      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

to  develop  all  the  distinctive  highest  capacities 
of  the  individual,  it  is  also  true  that  it  gives 
the  individual  fullest  and  freest  touch  with  his 
fellows  and  also  that  it  exists  in  and  enriches 
the  lives  of  men  and  women  who  seem  incapable 
of  rising  to  any  very  marked  individual  religious 
life  of  their  own.  Such  persons  are  not  to  be 
set  down  either  as  nonentities  or  nonmy sties. 
"They  are,"  as  Dr.  W.  M.  MacGregor  says  of 
them,  "faithful,  sober,  reverent,  and,  on  occa- 
sion, they  may  reveal  depths  of  Christian 
feeling,  but  they  have  little  knowledge  of  the 
solitudes  of  God.  Their  life  is  rooted  in  the 
community  and  whatever  color  and  fragrance 
and  fruitfulness  it  exhibits,  would  seem  to  be 
determined  by  influences  which  are  common."" 

^x^But  does  not  this  inclusion  of  a  social  type  of 
mysticism  directly  contradict  our  definition  of 
mysticism  as  an  immediate  experience?  I 
think  not.  The  experience  comes  to  the  indi- 
vidual in  any  case  only  relatively  alone.  He 
is  dependent  upon  his  membership  in  a  religious 

•^^ommunity.  And  whether  the  experience  comes 
to  one  in  solitude,  or  in  company  with  his 
fellows  and  through  sense  media,  it  is  still  his 
and  is  recognized  as  such  by  him. 

Unless  religion  is  the  dominating  power  in 
human  relationships,  society  is  less  than  human. 

w  Christian  Freedom,  p.  372. 


NORMAL  MYSTICISM  167 

It  took  the  insight  of  Jesus  to  brand  the  non- 
mystical  type  of  Hfe  in  one  graphic,  consuming 
sentence:  "They  ate,  they  drank,  they  planted, 
they  builded,  they  married,  they  were  given  in 

marriage  until ."     Something  is  bound  to 

happen  to  a  civilization  like  that.  It  cannot 
continue.  Either  it  goes  down  in  wreck  and 
flood,  or  it  finds  again  its  spiritual  heritage. 

Only  a  society  in  which  the  mystical — that  is, 
the  religious — element  is  awakened  and  active, 
imparting  to  life  idealism,  sympathy,  devotion, 
can  be  normal.  After  all,  the  question  is  not 
whether  mysticism  can  meet  the  test  of  nor- 
mality, but  whether  life  without  it  can  be  normal. 


Part  III 
VALUES  OF  MYSTICISM 

"Hold  fast  that  which  is  good.'* 


CHAPTER  Vni 
LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS 


Mysticism  teaches  three  great  lessons  in 
truth.  The  first  is  to  look  for  reality  within.  * 
It  is  thus  that  the  mystics  find  God,  by  turning 
from  outward  proof  and  argument  to  the  inner 
witness  of  the  soul  itself.  Many  mystics  dis- 
covered this  only  after  long  years  of  search. 
Thus  Augustine  cried,  "I  was  seeking  Thee 
outside  of  myself,  and  could  not  find  the  God 
of  my  heart.  "^  *T  asked  Thy  creatures  of 
Thee,"  wrote  Fenelon,  "and  not  once  thought 
of  finding  Thee  in  the  depths  of  my  heart, 
where  Thou  hadst  never  ceased  to  dwell. "^ 
"Halt!  whither  runnest  thou?  Heaven  is  in 
thee;  seekest  thou  God  otherwhere,  thou  missest 
him  ever  and  ever,"  exclaimed  Angelus  Silesius.'^ 
Madame  Guyon  sought  for  God  in  vain  until 
her  confessor  told  her  to  seek  him  within.  Then 
she  knocked  and  it  was  opened  unto  her. 

'  Confessions,  vi,  1.  »  Christian  Counsels,  ii. 

»Steiner:   Mystics  of  the  Renaissance,  p.  260. 

171 


^ 


172      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Thus  it  has  been  with  the  mystics  as  a  whole. 
That  downright,  honest-hearted  mystic  who 
did  more  perhaps  than  any  man  of  our  time  to 
arouse  men  to  a  sense  of  reaUty,  Tolstoy,  has 
described  for  us  in  words  of  burning  sincerity 
his  vain  search  for  God  through  the  under- 
standing, and  how,  finally,  after  years  of  de- 
spair and  living  upon  the  verge  of  suicide,  the 
light  came  to  him  on  a  day  in  spring  in  the 
woodland : 

I  had  only  to  know  God  and  I  hved;  I  had 
only  to  forget  him,  not  to  believe  in  him,  and 
I  died.  What  was  this  discouragement  and 
revival?  I  do  not  live  when  I  lose  faith  in  the 
existence  of  God;  I  should  long  ago  have  killed 
myself  if  I  had  not  had  a  dim  hope  of  finding 
him.  I  really  live  only  when  I  am  conscious  of 
him  and  seek  him.  "WTiat  more,  then,  do  I 
seek.'^"  a  voice  seemed  to  cry  within  me.  "This 
is  He,  He  without  whom  there  is  no  life.  To 
know  God  and  to  live  are  one.  God  is  life.  Live, 
to  seek  God,  and  life  will  not  be  without  God." 
And  stronger  than  ever  rose  up  life  within  and 
around  me,  and  the  light  that  then  shone  never 
left  me  again.* 

So,  also,  Christ  is  to  be  found  within,  not  in 
the  heights  nor  the  depths,  but  in  the  heart. 

■*  My  Confession,  chap,  xii. 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS       17:^ 

He,  indeed,  is  God  within.  Tauler  closes  his 
striking  sermon  from  the  text,  "What  went  ye 
out  into  the  wilderness  for  to  see?"  with  the 
words : 

Hence  we  have  need  of  the  true  Moses,  even 
Jesus  Christ,  that  he  may  at  all  times  guide 
and  lead  us,  and  draw  us  to  himself,  so  that  we 
may  go  out  after  him  into  the  wilderness  of  our 
own  hearts,  wherein  God  lies  hidden  to  us.  May 
God  help  us  all  to  attain  thereto! 

This  insistence  upon  the  withinness  rather 
than  the  withoutness  of  reality  is  not,  of  course, 
a  spatial  distinction  with  the  mystics.  It  is, 
rather,  an  insistence  upon  the  personal,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  nonpersonal,  as  the  true  ' 
abiding  place  of  the  Divine. 

God,  Christ,  truth,  holiness,  all  lie — the 
mystic  is  ever  assuring  us — in  the  inner  spirit 
world.  All  who  seek  ultimate  reality  in  the 
external  world  with  the  scientist,  or  in  the  world 
of  sense  with  the  hedonist,  or  in  the  past  with 
the  historian,  or  in  the  world  of  pure  ideas 
with  the  philosopher,  are  doomed  to  miss  it. 
The  inner  door  is  the  entrance  to  reality.  It 
is  here  too  that  religious  certainty  alone  is  to 
be  found.  Not  in  church,  or  book,  or  creed, 
but  in  the  whisper  of  the  still  small  Voice. 
"It  is  the  Inner  Witness,  my  son,"  said  Samuel 


^M 


174      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Wesley  to  John,  "the  Inner  Witness."  Only 
after  all  outward  search  is  abandoned  and  one 
turns  to  the  world  within,  will  he  find  what  he 
seeks  and  what  every  soul,  when  it  aw^lfes, 
must  desire  above  everything  else.  • 

II 

A  second  lesson  in  truth  taught  us  by  the 
jv/-/ mystics  is,  to  find  meaning  in  mystery.  To 
\^  I  the  scientist,  as  such,  mystery  is  a  challenge,  a 
foe,  a  problem  to  be  attacked  and  resolved 
into  its  understandable  factors.  For  the  pur- 
poses of  science  this  is  the  only  right  attitude. 
Let  us  not  fail  to  recognize  to  the  full  the  value 
of  science.  Without  her  it  would  have  gone 
hard  with  humanity.  For,  as  far  as  the  mystic 
is  concerned,  we  might  still  be  groping  in  a 
semicivilized  world.  Not  that  the  mystic  is 
superstitious.  Superstition  is  as  far  from  his 
frame  of  mind  as  from  that  of  the  scientist; 
but  as  relates  to  the  material  world  he  is  not 
concerned  with  finding  out  its  secrets — at 
least,  not  after  the  manner  of  the  scientist — 
or  with  utilizing  to  the  full  its  resources.  The 
world  has  another  meaning  to  him  than  that. 
Its  mystery  to  him  is  prescient,  purposeful, 
prophetic.  It  invests  him,  yet  does  not  oppress 
y  him,  for  he  feels  that  within  it  are  veiled  great 
^    and    gracious    meanings.      The    mystic    would 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS       175 

not  choose  to  live  in  a  world  where  everything 
is  understood,  to  the  last  and  least  item.  To 
him  such  a  world  would  be  commonplace, 
mechanical,  unworthy  of  God,  the  God  who 
"hideth  himself,"  not  in  order  to  conceal  him- 
self, but  because  he  can  reveal  himself  only  to 
the  inquiring  mind  and  heart. 

Ill 

A  third  and  kindred  truth-lesson  of  mysticism 
'  is  to  find  the  eternal  in  the  temporal.  This,  as 
Inge  asserts,  is  the  very  heart  of  mysticism, 
regarded  from  the  point  of  view  of  truth.  At 
first  it  seems  as  if  the  essence  of  mysticism 
were  to  find  the  eternal  apart  from  the  temporal. 
It  is  a  characteristic  doctrine  of  one  type 
of  mysticism,  that  to  reach  the  eternal  and 
unchangeable  one  must  detach  himself  com- 
pletely from  the  world  of  things,  from  sight 
and  sound  and  touch  of  everything  temporal, 
and  fly  to  the  Abyss,  the  Darkness,  the  Silence. 
Dionysius  and  Erigena  and  Eckhart  are  not 
the  only  mystics  who  teach  this.  It  is  found 
throughout  doctrinal  mysticism.  Jacob  Boeh- 
me's  first  dialogue  of  The  Supersensual  Life 
begins : 

The  disciple  said  to  his  Master :  Sir,  how  may 
I  come  to  the  Supersensual  Life,  so  that  I  may 


y 


176      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

see  God  and  hear  God  speak?  The  Master 
answered  and  said:  Son,  when  thou  canst  throw 
thyself  into  THAT,  where  no  creature  dwelleth, 
though  it  be  but  for  a  moment,  then  thou  hearest 
what  God  speaketh.  Disciple:  Is  that  where  no 
creature  dwelleth  near  at  hand,  or  is  it  afar  off? 
Master:  It  is  in  thee.  And  if  thou  canst,  my 
son,  for  a  while  but  cease  from  all  thy  thinking 
and  willing,  then  thou  shalt  hear  the  unspeak- 
able words  of  God.  Disciple:  How  can  I  hear 
him  speak  when  I  stand  still  from  thinking 
[/  and  willing?  Master:  When  thou  standest  still 
from  the  thinking  of  self  and  the  willing  of  self. 
When  both  thy  intellect  and  will  are  quiet  and 
passive  to  the  expressions  of  the  Eternal  word 
and  Spirit;  and  when  thy  soul  is  winged  up  and 
above  that  which  is  temporal,  the  outward 
senses  and  the  imagination  being  locked  up  by 
holy  abstraction,  then  the  Eternal  Hearing,  See- 
ing, and  Speaking  will  be  revealed  in  thee,  and 
so  God  heareth  and  seeeth  through  thee,  being 
now  the  organ  of  his  Spirit,  and  so  God  speaketh 
in  thee,  and  whispereth  to  the  Spirit,  and  thy 
spirit  heareth  his  voice. 

Yet,  when  the  searcher  after  the  ejternal  has 
'  thus  renounced  and  transcended  the  temporal 
in  order  to  attain  the  eternal,  he  comes  back 
with  it,  so  to  speak — unless  he  is  too  loath  to 
linger,  as  the  supermy sties  were,  in  the  realm 
of  the  transcendent — into  the  world  of  time 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS       177 

and  sense  and  finds  the  eternal  set  in  the  heart  [ 
of  things.  Boehme  detects  something  super- 
sensual  in  the  "jovial  luster"  of  the  burnished 
kettle  and  then  finds  it  again  in  the  grass  and 
trees  and  all  things.  To  him  the  eternal  has 
become  the  secret  of  the  universe.  Thus  the 
world  is  transformed  into  something  symbolical,, 
allegorical,  translucent.  Through  it  gleam  andV 
flash  the  revelations  of  the  eternal.  All  order 
is  a  reflection  of  eternal  order.  All  beauty  is 
a  mirror  of  eternal  beauty.  As  Angelus  Sile- 
sius  wrote: 

The  rose  whose  beauty  glads  thine  eyes  to  see, 
Blossomed  in  God  ere  time  began  to  be. 

All  the  noblest  nature  mysticism  finds  its 
secret  gladness  and  inspiration  in  this  imma- 
nence of  the  eternal  in  the  temporal.  Words- 
worth beholds  it  as  the  "flashing  of  a  shield." 
Emerson  hears  it  as  a  melody,  "a  sky-born 
music." 

'Tis  not  in  the  high  stars  alone, 

Nor  in  the  cups  of  budding  flowers,  j 

Nor  in  the  redbreast's  mellow  tone,  i 

Nor  in  the  bow  that  smiles  in  showers. 
But  in  the  mud  and  scum  of  things  l^^.^ 

There  alway,  alway,  something  sings. 

This  Reality  that  seems  to  the  supermystic 


178      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

^  in  his  "flight  of  the  alone  to  the  Alone"  to  be 
the  Divine  Darkness,  not  only  supersensuous 
but  superrational,  to  the  rational  mystic  seems 
the  all-pervasive  Reason,  the  Eternal  Logos, 
the  unfolding  Revelation. 

Mystical  truth  is  clearly  as  far  as  possible 
from  literalism.  One  who  lingers  within  the 
walls  of  literalism  has  not  attained  unto  the 
freedom  of  the  House  of  Mysticism.  He  must 
escape  the  letter  before  he  can  enter  into  the 
spirit.  "For  while  I  read  the  Scriptures  in  the 
letter,"  wrote  Augustine,  "I  was  slain  in  the 
spirit."^  There  is,  to  be  sure,  a  species  of  liter- 
alism among  the  mystics.  It  is  literalism  in 
the  application  of  truth,  not  in  its  conception. 
Truth,  for  him,  is  ever  fresh  and  free  and  untram- 
meled. 

Nor  has  pure  intellectualism  any  affinity  with 
the  mystic  mind.  Not  that  mysticism  lacks 
in  intellectual  vigor  and  acumen;  but  when  the 
.  -.intellectual  becomes  so  regnant  and  repressive 
^  as  to  pass  over  into  the  dry,  cold,  critical 
temper  it  has  lost  all  touch  with  vital  reality.® 
It  is  not  the  intellect  primarily  according  to 
mysticism,  as  we  have  seen,  that  makes  seizure 
of  ultimate  truths.  The  power  by  which  such 
truths    are   grasped   and   held — swift,    strong. 


'  Confessions,  v,  14. 
•  Part  ii,  chap.  ii. 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS       179 

unerring,  unrelaxing — is,  in  the  language  of 
philosophy,  intuition,  in  the  language  of  reli- 
gion, faith. 

Thus  it  sometimes  happens  that  these  two 
faculties,  the  intuitive  and  the  intellectual,  are 
pitted  against  each  other — the  one  representing 
the  life  of  spiritual  self-consecration,  the  other 
that  of  intellectual  selfishness.  The  experience 
of  Frances  Willard  affords  an  illustration.  The 
crisis  in  her  religious  experience  occurred  during 
an  almost  fatal  illness  in  her  twentieth  year, 
in  which,  as  she  writes: 

Two  voices  seemed  to  speak  within  me,  one 
of  them  saying:  *'My  child,  give  me  thine  heart. 
I  called  thee  long  by  joy,  I  call  thee  now  by 
chastisement.'*  The  other  said:  "Surely,  you 
who  are  so  resolute  and  strong  will  not  break 
down  now  because  of  physical  feebleness.  You 
are  a  reasoner  and  never  yet  were  you  con- 
vinced of  the  reasonableness  of  Christianity. 
Hold  out  now  and  you  will  feel  when  you  get 
well,  just  as  you  used  to  feel."^ 

She  finally  yielded  to  the  first  voice  and  be- 
came an  avowed  Christian.  This  experience  is 
interesting  as  illustrating  a  not  uncommon 
conflict  between  two  faculties  not  in  themselves 
hostile,  but  which  may  become  so  unless  the 


7  Glimpses  of  Fifty  Years,  p.  686. 


180      MYSTICISM  AND  MODEKX  LIFE 

intellect  assents  to  the  deeper  reason.  It  is 
.  .only  when  "heart  and  mind,  according  well, 
^  make  one  music"  that  the  soul  is  at  peace  with 

itself. 

IV 

Three  great  lessons  in  valuation  the  mystics 
1/  have  for  us.  The  first  is  tJie  value  of  true  solitude. 
He  who  thinks  that  the  mystics  sought  solitude 
as  a  penance  makes  a  great  mistake.  Thomas 
a  Kempis  went  to  his  cell,  as  Emerson  went  to 
his  "sylvan  home,"  drawn  by  its  unfailing 
attraction  and  power  of  enrichment.  Solitude, 
to  the  mystics,  is  a  state  not  only  of  sweetness 
but  of  strength.  It  is  in  solitude,  they  feel, 
that  a  man  gets  his  bearings,  his  calm,  his 
poise.  A  Kempis  was  wont  to  insist,  quoting 
Seneca,  that  as  often  as  he  went  forth  into  the 
world  he  returned  a  poorer  man.^  "Let  a  man 
stand  fast,  then,  as  an  axis  of  the  earth," 
wrote  a  modern  mystic,  "the  obsequious  meri- 
dians will  bow  to  him,  and  gracious  latitudes 
will  measure  from  his  feet."®  It  was  through 
solitude  that  the  mystics  gained  their  per- 
spective, their  large  outlook  upon  life.  Unlike 
world  folk,  they  were  not  "made  happy  by  a 
little  gossip  or  a  little  praise."     Alone,  they 

V     \         ^  "One  said,  'As  oft  I  have  been  among  men,  I  returned  home  less  a  man 
^nJ     than  I  was  before'  "  (Imitation,  chap.  xx). 

9  Benjamin  Paul  Blood.  .  .  .     See  "A  Pluralistic  Mystic,"  by  William 
James,  Hibbert  Journal,  vol.  viii,  4,  p.  754. 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS       181 

found  themselves  and  God;  and  with  shining 
faces  they  came  forth,  like  the  mystic  Moses, 
cleansed,  purified,  enheartened,  to  their  tasks. 
Solitude  has  often  meant  to  the  mystic,  not 
detachment,  in  the  negative  sense,  but  attach- 
ment— a  coming  into  relation  with  the  larger 
life  of  humanity  through  reading  and  reflection. 
"The  man,"  wrote  Schiller,  "who  wants  to  be 
himself,  who  strives  for  inner  harmony,  must 
live  as  a  stranger  to  his  surroundings,  a  stranger 
to  his  time;  he  must  remove  himself  from  the 
belittling  influences  of  the  ambitions  of  the  / 
multitude,  scorn  all  participation  in  quest  for 
outward  success;  fill  himself  with  what  the 
best  and  finest  of  all  ages  have  dreamed  and 
accomplished;  he  must  dwell  in  the  idea  of  the 
beautiful." 

Are  we  losing  the  grace  of  solitude  out  of 
our  modern  life,  along  with  the  sense  of  sin  and 
the  spirit  of  reverence  .^^  The  modern  man  does 
not  go  apart  with  his  cherished  ideal,  very 
much,  to  ask  himself  and  his  God  how  he  may 
be  a  better  man.  We  are  apt  to  be  more 
anxious  over  our  bills  to-day  than  over  our 
sins.  We  are  more  absorbed  in  our  schemes  x, 
than  in  our  ideals.  It  is  a  sordid  and  abnormal 
frame  of  mind.  We  are  in  constant  danger  of 
degeneration  through  our  materialisms.  Spir- 
itual simians  may  live  in  stone  fronts  as  well  as 


182      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

in  trees.  To-day  he  who  has  any  desire  to  be 
alone  for  his  soul's  good  is  too  apt  to  be  looked 
upon  askance  as  a  survival  from  an  age  when 
mankind  was  afflicted  with  a  mental  disease 
called  'piety — a  strange  hallucination  that  life 
is  too  serious  a  matter  to  be  lived  without 
Divine  help — times  of  ignorance  which  men  now 
wink  at.  Of  course  I  do  not  mean  that  this 
attitude  of  mind  is  universal,  but  it  has  its 
area,  and  a  wide  one.  Little  does  it  know  of 
the  wealth  of  true  solitude.  "^ 

There  is  something  else  which  we  are  in 
serious  danger  of  losing  along  with  solitude,  as 
its  close  dependent,  and  that  is  true  social  life. 
For  society  needs  solitude  as  a  source  of  supply. 
How  can  men  gain  their  best  thoughts,  affec- 
tions, aspirations,  how  can  they  develop  person- 
alities with  which  to  enrich  society,  without 
solitude.'^  When  this  fails  society  will  suffer. 
We  may  still  have  "company" — the  simians  are 
gregarious — but  not  true  social  life.  Let  the. 
mystics  teach  us  to  recover  the  grace  of  soli- 
tude, not  to  overvalue  it,  not  to  undervalue^ 
simple,  wholesome  human  intercourse,  but  to* 
keep  the  two  in  right  and  responsive  relation 
to  each  other. 

V 

A  second  lesson  in  valuation  coming  to  us 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS       183 

from  the  mystics  is  the  wealth  of  simplicity,  [^^^^ 
Stripping  life  of  its  accessories,  to  them  meant 
adding  to  its  fundamental  values.  Lady 
Poverty  became  Lady  Bountiful  to  Saint  Fran- 
cis. Relaxing  the  clutch  upon  'mine  meant  the 
opening  of  the  hand  to  receive  larger  riches. 
"All  things  are  yours"  becomes  a  reality  as 
one  becomes  Christ's. 

There  is  something  prophetic,  as  well  as 
pathetic,  in  the  wistfulness  with  which  men 
look  back  to  the  period  of  childhood  as  ap- 
proaching most  nearly  the  ideal  life  of  the 
soul.  Again  and  again  the  yearning  finds 
expression.  Sometimes  it  is  in  a  tone  of  hope- 
less lament.  Sometimes  it  foreshadows  a  new 
and  richer  childhood — as  when  Bunyan  ex- 
claimed in  his  darkness,  "I  wished  with  all  my 
heart  that  I  might  be  a  little  child  again." 
The  experience  of  the  mystics  as  a  whole  offers 
a  striking  exemplification  of  the  saying  of 
Christ  as  to  the  life  of  the  Kingdom  consisting 
in  a  renewed  childhood.  Not  that  such  a  life 
has  the  weaknesses  and  limitations  of  child- 
hood, but,  rather,  its  vision,  its  faith,  its  con- 
fiding communion.  Two  descriptions  of  the 
spiritual  significance  of  childhood  of  rare 
beauty  and  significance  have  lately  fallen  to 
our  possession.  One  is  from  the  pen  of  that 
uproarious  modern  mystic  whose  cheerful  and 


184      MYSTICISM  A:SD  MODERN  LIFE 

intrepid  faith  has  been  a  tonic  to  our  depressed 
and  be-problemed  time,  Chesterton.  It  occurs 
l^  in  his  volume  Orthodoxy,  and  is  entitled  "The 
Ethics  of  Elfland."  The  other  is  from  the 
seventeenth-century  mystic,  Thomas  Traherne, 
whose  Centuries  of  Meditations  was  first  pub- 
lished by  Bertram  Dobell  in  1908.  Describing 
his  childhood,  Traherne  says,  in  the  "Third 
Century": 

I  was  a  little  stranger,  which  at  my  entrance 
into  the  world  was  saluted  and  surrounded  with 
innumerable  joys.  My  knowledge  was  Divine. 
I  knew  by  intuition  those  things  which,  since 
my  Apostasy,  I  collected  again  by  the  highest 
reason.  My  very  ignorance  was  advantageous. 
I  seemed  as  one  brought  into  the  Estate  of 
Innocence.  All  things  were  spotless  and  pure 
and  glorious:  yea,  and  infinitely  mine,  and 
joyful  and  precious.  .  .  .  The  corn  was  orient 
and  immortal  wheat,  which  never  should  be 
reaped,  nor  was  ever  sown.  I  thought  it  had 
stood  from  everlasting  to  everlasting.  The 
dust  and  stones  of  the  street  were  as  precious  as 
gold :  the  gates  were  at  first  the  end  of  the  world. 
The  green  trees  when  I  first  saw  them  through 
one  of  the  gates  transported  and  ravished  me, 
their  sweetness  and  unusual  beauty  made  my 
heart  to  leap,  and  almost  mad  with  ecstasy, 
they  were  such  strange  and  wonderful  things. 
The   Men!     O   what   venerable   and   reverend 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS      .185 

creatures  did  the  aged  seem!  Immortal  Cher- 
ubims!  And  young  men  glittering  and  spark- 
ling Angels,  and  maids  strange  seraphic  pieces 
of  life  and  beauty.  Boys  and  girls  tumbling 
in  the  street,  and  playing,  were  moving  jewels. 
I  knew  not  that  they  were  born  or  should  die; 
but  all  things  abided  eternally  as  they  were  in 
their  proper  places.  Eternity  was  manifested 
in  the  light  of  the  Day,  and  something  infinite 
behind  everything  appeared;  which  talked  with 
my  expectation  and  moved  my  desire.  The 
city  seemed  to  stand  in  Eden,  or  to  be  built  in 
Heaven.  The  streets  were  mine,  the  temple 
was  mine,  the  people  were  mine,  their  clothes 
and  gold  and  silver  were  mine,  as  much  as  their 
sparkling  eyes,  fair  skins,  and  ruddy  faces.  The 
skies  were  mine,  and  so  were  the  sun  and  moon 
and  stars,  and  all  the  world  was  mine;  and  I 
the  only  spectator  and  enjoyer  of  it.  I  knew  no 
churlish  properties,  nor  bounds,  nor  divisions; 
but  all  properties  and  divisions  were  mine:  all 
treasures  and  the  possessors  of  them.  So  that 
with  much  ado  I  was  corrupted,  and  made  to 
learn  the  dirty  devices  of  this  world.  Which 
now  I  unlearn,  and  become,  as  it  were,  a  little 
child  again,  that  I  may  enter  into  the  King- 
dom of  God. 

If  one  desires  a  perfect  commentary  on  the 
words  of  the  Master  concerning  becoming  a 
little  child  again,  surely  Thomas  Traherne  has 
written  it. 


186     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

VI 

A  third  lesson  in  valuation  the  mystics  bring 
y^-home  to  us,  the  superiority  of  being,  above 
^  having  or  doing.  Many  and  earnest  are  the 
persuasions  which  the  mystics  utter  against 
the  subtle  and  deadening  power  of  possession. 
The  sense  of  mine  is  the  root  of  all  sin,  as  the 
author  of  the  "Theologica  Germanica"  sees  it. 
The  penetrative  sentence  of  Hawthorne,  in 
which  he  describes  Judge  Pyncheon  "with  his 
landed  estate,  public  honors,  offices  of  trust,  and 
other  solid  unrealities, ''  well  sums  up  the  view 
which  the  mystics  take  of  property.  It  was 
Hawthorne  too — though  he  is  not  to  be  quoted 
as  among  the  oracles  of  mysticism — who  wrote, 
"Cursed  be  what  by  possession  charms  us." 
"Having"  means  little  to  the  pure  mystic. 

Nor  'does  "doing"  mean  to  the  mystic  the 
height  of  attainment.  He  would  not  recognize 
that  spirit  of  our  day  which  condemns  as  use- 
less everyone  who  does  not  "get  out  and  do 
something."  The  mystic  too  believes  in  doing 
things — and  does  them.  But  his  doing  grows 
so  naturally  out  of  his  inner  life  that  what  he 
does  carries  his  whole  personality  with  it  and 
gains  its  significance  from  that  fact.  What  he 
most  longs  for  is  to  "be";  he  knows  very  well 
that  he  cannot  then  be  barren  or  unfruitful. 
How  true  that  ideal  is  the  history  of  mysticism 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS       187 

proves.  Even  those  quiet  souls  who  have  done 
Httle  but  live,  or  live  and  produce  what,  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  man  of  deeds,  seem  only 
"words,  idle  words" — like  Dante,  or  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  or  Alfred  Tennyson,  or  Frederic 
Amiel  (who  made  a  flat  failure  of  everything 
except  the  chief  thing,  life) — such  are  doing 
more  to-day  for  the  good  of  the  world  than  those 
who  have  spent  life  in  mere  hectic  and  ill- 
ordered  activity.  After  all,  what  did  Jesus  do? 
Organize,  reform,  agitate?  No;  a  few  years  of 
teaching  and  healing — that  was  all.  Yet  what 
he  was  and  is  is  making  a  new  humanity. 

Moreover,  the  mystics  are  well  assured  that 
the  chief,  the  only  way  to  he,  is  to  come  into 
touch  with  the  Source-  of  all  being.  Hence 
their  strong  insistence  upon  contemplation, 
which,  when  it  is  of  the  right  sort,  is  itself 
true  action.  As  Joubert  wrote:  ''Penser  a 
Dieu  est  une  action.''  Such  thinking  issues  in 
conduct,  as  the  seed  develops  into  the  flower. 
If,  as  Matthew  Arnold  said,  conduct  is  three 
fourths  of  life,  motive  is  three  fourths  of  con- 
duct; and  the  springs  of  motive  lie  far  back  in 
the  hills  where  the  receptive  soul  receives  of 
the  Divine  Fullness. 

VII 

Three   great   lessons   in   virtue  come   to   us 


188     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

.  through  the  mystics.     The  first  is  to  find  con- 

tentment in  humility.  Nothing  seems  to  the 
mystic  more  unreasonable,  more  contrary  to 
a  true  and  happy  life,  than  the  love  of  pre- 
cedence, the  effort  to  get  the  advantage  of 
others.  Strife,  restlessness,  unhappiness,  spring 
— ^he  conceives — from  this  root.  He  would 
therefore  remove  it  completely  and  in  its  place 
plant  lowly  humility,  the  heart  of  contentment 
and  true  peace.  Swedenborg  offers  a  beautiful 
comment  upon  humility  in  his  description  of 
the  conduct  of  the  angels: 

As  all  good  and  truth  come  from  above,  so 
does  all  life.  Because  they  believe  this,  angels 
refuse  all  thanks  for  the  good  they  do,  and  are 
indignant  and  retire  if  anyone  attributes  good 
to  them.  They  wonder  that  anyone  should  be- 
lieve that  he  is  wise  of  himself,  and  does  good 
of  himself.i« 

Nor  is  humihty  to  the  mystic  a  superhuman 
virtue,  one  that  he  puts  on  as  a  kind  of  badge 
of  blessedness,  upon  which  is  inscribed:  "Per- 
suade yourself  that  you  are  worse  than  you  are." 
No;  he  really  sees  and  feels  his  imperfection. 
It  is  no  make-believe  with  him.  It  is  only 
necessary,  he  perceives,  to  know  oneself,  in 
order  to  be  humble.    "Whoso  knoweth  himself," 


10  Heaven  and  Hell,  t9. 


LE8yON8  FKOM  THE  MYSTICS       189 

writes  Thomas  k  Kempis,  "is  lowly  in  his  own 
eyes !"  The  mystic  is  the  only  one  humble  enough 
to  take  a  rebuke,  as  Saint  Francis  took  his  of 
the  rude  peasant  on  the  way  to  La  Verna. 
This  is  the  highest  proof  of  humility.  Until 
one  is  able  to  take  a  reproof — even  though 
unjust — an  injury,  a  slight,  without  smarting 
under  it,  he  has  not  attained  to  the  truest 
humility. 

VIII 
Another  lesson  in  virtue  which  the  mystics 
teach  is  to  find  victory  in  self-sacrifice.  It  is 
they,  more  than  any  others,  who  have  caught 
the  full  meaning  of  Jesus's  word,  "He  that  loseth 
his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it."  This  is  the 
supreme  paradox  of  the  spiritual  life — not  to 
be  reached  by  "plain  common  sense,"  or  matter- 
of-fact  living.  It  involves  the  principle  of  the 
dual  self  which  few  of  the  mystics  worked  out, 
although  the  philosophy  of  self-surrender  was 
clear  to  them  all.    As  Martineau  wrote: 

Here  we  alight  upon  an  interpretation  of  the 
doctrine  [of  prudence]  characteristic  of  the 
Christian  mystics — that  Self  is  the  center 
and  essence  of  all  Sin,  and  the  surrender  of  self 
theonesimpleconditionof  union  with  God.  .  .  . 
To  have  no  wish,  no  claim,  no  reluctance  to  be 
taken  hither  or  thither,  but  to  yield  oneself  up 
as  the  organ  of  a  higher  spirit,  which  disposes 


190     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

of  us  as  may  be  fit,  constitutes  the  mystic  ideal 
of  perfect  life.^^ 

The  thoroughness  with  which  the  mystics 
enforced  self-sacrifice,  in  teaching  and  practice, 
was  heroic;  yet  self-sacrifice  with  them  was 
never  divorced  from  a  larger  end.  With  char- 
acteristic simplicity  and  depth  Eckhart  de- 
clared : 

Wo  du  mit  deinem  Willen  und  deinem  Wissen 
wahrhaft  ausgeht,  da  geht  Gott  wahrhaft  und 
i^^^'-^willig  mit  seinem  Wissen  ein  und  leuchtet  da  in 
Klarheit.i2 

Jacob  Boehme  makes  the  same  assertion  in 

another  form : 

If  thou  forsakest  the  world,  then  thou  comest 
into  that  out  of  which  the  world  is  made,  and 
if  thou  losest  thy  life,  then  thy  life  is  in  that  for 
whose  sake  thou  forsakest  it.^^ 

The  truth  which  Nettleship  put  so  arrestingly, 
"To  live  is  to  die  into  something  more  per- 
fect," has  been  richly  verified  in  mystical 
experience. 

IX 

The    third    and    crowning    lesson    in    virtue 
which  the  mystics  teach — a  lesson  also  in  truth 

"  Types  of  Ethical  Theory,  vol.  ii,  p.  79. 

12  Sermon:  "Von  der  Dunkelheit."  "When  thou  divestest  thyself  of 
thine  own  will  and  thine  own  wisdom  then  God  freely  and  willingly  enters, 
with  his  clear-shining  wisdom." 

"  Dialogues  of  the  Supersensual  Life,  ii. 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS       191 

and   in   value — is   to   find   self-fulfillment   and 
happiness  in  love.    The  unitive  life,  the  highestX 
summit  of  the  mystic  ascent,  is  a  life  of  love.   \ 
On  this  height,  in  this  atmosphere,  the  goal  is    \  U/^ 
reached,  the  soul  is  at  home,  the  self  is  fulfilled.     I   ^Ly^y^ 
This  is  the  Christian  Nirvana,   attainable  in      j      ^ 
this   life,   yet   not   attained,   reached   only   in     I    i 
swift  ecstatic  experiences  by  all  who  follow  the  ip 
Christ  in  the  mystic  way.    Faith  in  love,  "the 
love  of  Love" — how  it  floods  the  mystic  mind 
with  joy,  driving  sorrow,  defeat,  doubt,  dis- 
may, afar!    Love  is  the  inner  secret,  the  whole 
secret,  the  open  secret,  of  mysticism.     God  is 
love,  and  truth  is  love,  and  life  is  love,  was  the 
message  that  came  to  men  through  the  Christ. 
It  awoke  a  response  in  many  hearts.    Men  fled 
to  the  desert  with  the  priceless  secret.     They 
sold  all  other  pearls  and  bought  this  of  great 
price;  and  yet  they  did  not  keep  it.    They  gave 
it  away,  and  the  more  they  gave  of  it,  the  more 
they  had  of  it.    They  lost  it  in  the  darkness  of 
the  world  and  of  self,  and  found  it  again  and 
rejoiced. 

To  the  mystic  love  is  able  to  transform 
even  the  most  humdrum  service  and  make  it  i 
beautiful.  That  joyous  saint  of  the  pots  and 
kettles.  Brother  Lawrence,  gives  this  account 
of  his  experience,  as  related  in  the  Conver- 
sations : 


192      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

When  outward  business  diverted  him  a  little 
from  the  thought  of  Gody  a  fresh  remembrance 
coming  from  God  invested  his  soul,  and  so 
inflamed  and  transported  him,  that  it  was  dif- 
ficult for  him  to  restrain  himself.  Therefore 
he  said: 

That  he  was  more  united  to  God  in  his  ordi- 
nary occupations  than  when  he  left  them  for 
devotion  in  retirement.  .  .  .  That  the  most 
excellent  method  which  he  had  found  of  going 
to  Gody  was  that  of  doing  our  common  business 
without  any  view  of  pleasing  men,  and  (as  far 
as  we  are  capable)  purely  for  the  love  of  God.^* 

"Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,"  exclaimed 
the  enfranchised  mystic  of  Tarsus.  "God  is 
love,"  breathed  the  mystic  seer  of  Ephesus. 
"Love  is  stronger  than  death,"  sang  the  mys- 
tic martyrs,  and  faced  the  lions  and  the  flames 
undaunted.  "Love  can  win  all,"  caroled  the 
mystic  missionaries,  and  dared  forest  and  frost 
and  savage  sword.  "Love  is  more  precious 
than  the  world  and  all  its  ambitions  and 
pleasures,"  whispered  the  mystic  monks  and 
nuns,  and  withdrew  into  the  monastery,  the 
hermitage,  the  hospital.  "Love  is  the  final 
wisdom,  the  only  freedom,  the  only  bond  of 
union,"  joyfully  taught  the  Friends  of  God  in 
Germany.      "He  that  loveth,   flieth,   runneth. 


1*  The  Practice  of  the  Presence  of  God,  Third  and  Fourth  Conversations. 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  MYSTICS       193 

and  rejoiceth,"  wrote  the  tender-hearted  author 
of  the  Imitation.  "Divine  Love  is  the  mystic 
wound  that  heals  the  soul,"  confessed  the 
Quietists.  "Love  is  the  highest  excellency," 
echoed  the  voice  of  the  mystic  Edwards  from 
the  wilderness  of  the  New  World.  "Love  is 
the  warmth  diffused  by  the  Inner  Light," 
asseverated  the  Quakers.  "Love  is  immortal," 
chanted  the  mystic  threnodists  of  "Adonais" 
and  "In  Memoriam."  "Love  is  the  heart  of 
melody,"  sang  the  mystic  musicians,  and  wove 
its  sacred  sweetness  through  all  their  chords 
and  symphonies.  "Love  is  the  root  of  right- 
eousness, of  holiness,  of  fidelity,"  proclaimed 
the  mystic  prophets  and  preachers,  aflame  with 
the  love  that  never  faileth.  "Love  is  the  only 
talisman  that  will  insure  social  justice  and 
human  brotherhood  and  bring  in  the  golden 
age  of  man,"  cried  the  mystic  humanitarians, 
and,  bathed  in  its  puissance,  have  gone  bravely 
to  their  regenerating  toil. 

All  these  have  lived  and  wrought  in  the  light 
of  a  great  assurance.  Knowing  that  love  is 
the  triumphant  secret  of  the  universe,  they 
have  "smiled  to  think  God's  greatness  flows 
around  our  incompleteness — round  our  rest- 
lessness, His  rest." 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  TREASURY  OF  CHRISTIAN 
MYSTICAL  LITERATURE 

The  mystics  have  greatly  enriched  life.  They 
have  also  greatly  enriched  literature.  It  is  a 
saying  of  Maeterlinck  that  "a  work  can  never 
grow  old  except  in  proportion  to  its  anti-mys- 
ticism." Whatever  qualification  such  a  state- 
ment may  need,  certain  it  is  that  the  books  of 
deep  and  genuine  mystical  spirit,  full  of  "old 
K  essential  candors,"  possess  a  vitality  greater 
than  that  of  oaks  and  sequoias. 

If  we  commence  with  the  New  Testament 
and  pass  in  swift  review  some  of  the  most 
precious  volumes  in  the  treasury  of  Christian 
mystical  literature,  it  may  seem  a  heterogeneous 
company  of  books  that  we  bring  together,  from 
different  ages  and  races  and  mental  environ- 
ments, yet  it  will  serve  to  show  the  remarkable 
range  and  wealth  of  Christian  mystical  litera- 
ture. No  attempt  at  completeness  will  be  made, 
and  many  a  gem  will  doubtless  be  missed,  as 
worthy  of  a  place  as  some  of  those  that  are 
included. 

194 


MYSTICAL  LITERATURE  195 

I 

The  light  of  a  new  and  surpassing  era  of  the 
Spirit  pervades  the  New  Testament.  The 
mystic  note  finds  anticipatory  utterance  in  the 
Magnificat  and  the  Benedictus,  with  their  sense 
of  imminent  and  immeasurable  good.  The 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  though  a  setting  forth  of 
the  ethics  of  the  Kingdom,  is  pervaded  and 
vitalized  by  mystical  teaching,  without  which 
it  would  be  quite  robbed  of  its  warmth  and 
motive  power.  The  Beatitudes  (Matt.  5.  3-12), 
the  Appeal  to  Perfection  (5.  48),  the  True 
Nature  of  Prayer  and  Fasting  (6.  5-15),  the 
Inner  Light  (6.  22,  23),  the  beautiful  nature 
lesson  of  Freedom  from  Anxiety  and  Inner 
Calm  (6.  25-34),  the  Way  of  Access  to  Infinite 
Bounty  (7.  7-11)  are  all  clad  in  mystic  radiance. 
The  parables  too,  especially  the  Kingdom 
parables — the  Pearl  of  Great  Price,  the  Mus- 
tard Seed,  the  Hid  Treasure,  the  Net — are  full 
of  a  suggestive  wisdom  and  subtle  beauty  that 
reveal  Jesus's  deeply  mystical  spirit. 

Much  as  there  is  of  the  mystic  in  Paul,  none 
of  his  writings  is  a  singly  woven  and  consistent 
piece  of  mysticism.  Yet  there  are  passages  in 
his  letters  which  ensue  upon  the  dash  and  fer- 
vor of  argument,  exhortation,  and  admonition, 
breathing  a  harmony,  a  depth,  a  universality, 
which  make  them  masterpieces  in  the  literature 


19(>      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

of  mysticism.  The  Poems  of  Saint  Paul,  they 
may  well  be  called,  for  example,  the  Song  of 
the  Spirit-Filled  Life  (Rom.  8),  the  Parable  of 
Christian  Union  (1  Cor.  12),  the  Hymn  of 
Love  (1  Cor.  13),  the  Paean  of  Exalted  Humility 
(Phil.  2),  and  The  Unfolding  of  the  Great 
Mystery  (Col.  1.  9-29). 

Peerless  and  incomparable  among  the  texts 
/of  Christian  mysticism  is  the  Fourth  Gospel. 
Here  is  mysticism  at  its  noblest — emotion  as 
rich  as  it  is  restrained,  thought  that  moves  in 
the  cadence  and  measure  of  eternity,  symbolism 
to  which  nature  yields  as  if  she  had  no  other 
end,  faith  that  has  passed  within  the  portals  of 
reality  and  become  knowledge,  spiritual  matur- 
ity that  has  found  moral  obligation  identical 
with  the  will  of  God,  love  as  boundless  as  the 
sky.  Like  the  experience  out  of  which  it  grew, 
this  Gospel  is  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into 
everlasting  life. 

n 

Passing  from  the  New  Testament  into  the 
later  Christian  literature,  we  note  at  once  the 
little  volume  which  has  touched  the  heart  of 
Christendom  as  few  have  done,  Augustine's 
Confessions,  with  its  intimate  self-disclosures, 
its  insights  into  truth,  its  prayers  in  the  language 
of  an  archangel  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  chief  of 


MYSTICAL  LITERATURE  197 

sinners,  its  passionate  penitences  and  exulta- 
tions. Out  of  the  night  of  the  middle  ages 
there  blazes  upon  us  that  bright,  consummate 
star  of  mystical  poetry — the  Divine  Comedy, 
the  self -revelation  "of  him  who  from  the  lowest 
depths  of  hell,  through  every  paradise  and 
through  all  glory.  Love  led  serene."  So  true 
and  vivid  an  interpretation  of  the  life  of  the 
soul  is  Dante's  great  poem  that  its  mediaevalism 
is  lost  in  its  universality.  Very  inconspicuous 
and  lowly  as  compared  with  the  Divine  Comedy, 
and  yet  not  to  be  overlooked,  is  the  tender  song 
out  of  the  heart  of  Saint  Francis  of  Assisi,  so 
full  of  joyous  nature  mysticism.  The  Canticle 
of  the  Sun.  Wholesome  and  devout,  with  a 
piety  that  goes  to  the  heart  of  things,  is  Brother 
Lawrence's  Practise  of  the  Presence  of  God. 

In  the  fair  and  fruitful  garden  of  German  mys- 
ticism as  it  sprang  up  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
there  bloomed  many  fragrant  flowers  of  faith, 
one  of  which  has  become  widely  known  and 
loved — the  Theologia  Germanica,  a  fragrant 
lily  of  piety  growing  upon  the  strong  stem  of 
right  reason.  John  Tauler's  pithy  and  profound 
Sermons  have  won  a  lasting  place  in  the  litera- 
ture of  mysticism.  From  the  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life  came  a  little  book  of  such  exqui- 
site purity  and  piety,  such  utter  unselfishness 
and  devotion,  such  penetrative  spiritual  insight 


108      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

and  freshness  of  feeling,  that  humanity  has 
taken  it  very  close  to  its  heart,  "a  lasting 
record  of  human  needs  and  human  consola- 
tions," unfailing  in  its  spiritual  ministrations — 
the  Imitation  of  Christ  of  Thomas  a  Kempis. 
Jacob  Boehme's  Dialogues  of  the  Supersensual 
Life  will  come  to  be  better  known  as  one  of  the 
choice  products  of  a  marvelous  mind. 

Ill 

Turning  to  the  literature  of  English  mys- 
ticism, one  is  struck  by  the  mystical  note  in 
Piers  Plovmian,  though  it  is  somewhat  faint 
and  strained.  Passing  reluctantly  by  Spenser's 
Faery  Queen  and  Hymne  to  Heavenly  Beauty, 
and  Shakespeare's  Tempest  and  Sonnets — since, 
with  all  their  idealism  and  mystical  atmos- 
phere, they  are  not  avowedly  religious — we 
mention  first  the  quaintly  devout  poems  of 
George  Herbert,  The  Temple,  with  its  "lays 
upon  thine  altar  burnt,"  redolent  with  the 
incense  of  true  piety.  One  is  strongly  tempted 
to  add  that  devout  and  reposeful  nature 
book  of  Herbert's  biographer,  Izaak  Walton, 
The  Compleat  Angler  or  Contemplative  Man's 
Recreation,  with  its  benediction  upon  "all  that 
are  lovers  of  virtue  and  dare  trust  in  Providence 
and  be  quiet  and  go  a-angling,"  but  for  the  sake 
of  those  to  whom  fishing  is  inconsistent  with 


MYSTICAL  LITERATURE  199 

the  love  of  "all  things,  both  great  and  small," 
we  pass  it,  too,  by. 

John  Bunyan's  Gi'ace  Abounding  and  Pil- 
grim's Progress  assuredly  belong  among  the 
great  mystical  texts,  the  one  recounting  the 
experience  through  which  the  author  "changed 
his  drossy  dust  for  gold,"  the  other  the  incom- 
parable allegory,  translated  into  more  than 
seventy  languages,  wherein  we  "lose  ourselves 
and  catch  no  harm,"  and  "read  ourselves  and 
read  we  know  not  what,  and  yet  know  whether 
we  are  blest  or  not." 

George  Fox's  Journal,  rising  like  a  flame  from 
the  cold  and  dismal  piety  of  a  formal  and  faith- 
less age,  has  enough  of  mystic  warmth  in  it  still 
to  kindle  the  dullest  heart.  Beside  it  should  be 
placed  that  other  Quaker  Journal,  equally  noble 
and  serious,  but  gentler  and  more  winsome,  John 
Woolman's  Journal,  and,  in  company  with  both, 
William  Penn's  Some  Fruits  of  Solitude.  Jeremy 
Taylor's  Holy  Living  and  Holy  Dying  have  so 
much  of  the  flavor  of  mysticism  as  well  as  of 
sagacity  in  them,  seasoned  with  the  salt  of 
humor — and  upon  what  subject  is  godly  humor 
more  needed  than  upon  that  of  holy  dying? — as 
to  assure  them  a  permanent  place  in  mystical 
literature.  1     Not  so,  it  is  to  be  feared,  with  The 

1  W.  K.  Fleming  makes  much  of  Sir  Thomas  Brown's  Religio  Medici  as 
a  mystical  writing,  and  there  are  quaint  and  mystical  touches  in  it;  but  it 
is  also  the  quintessence  and  classic  of  a  strong  common-sense  view  of 


200      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Sainfs  Everlasting  Rest,  whose  occasional  declam- 
atory piety  and  rigid  Calvinism  overshadow  its 
really  beautiful  mystical  portions.  Doddridge's 
Rise  and  Progress,  searching  and  earnest  as  is  its 
piety,  is  foreign  to  the  mystical  mind.  Nor  can 
Law's  Serious  Call  be  included  among  mystical 
books,  although  his  Spirit  of  Love  and  Spirit  of 
Prayer,  written  after  he  had  felt  the  touch  of 
Jacob  Boehme,  rank  among  the  choicest  pro- 
ducts of  English  mysticism. 

It  seems  unfitting  not  to  include  Milton's 
Paradise  Lost  and  Paradise  Regained  among 
the  classics  of  mystical  literature,  but  in  spite 
of  their  noble  reverence  and  lofty  imagination 
they  fail,  largely  because  of  the  prevailing 
deism  reflecting  the  period  in  which  they  were 
written,  to  take  us  within  the  inner  temple  of 
experiential  religion.  Not  so,  however,  the 
Sonnet  on  His  Blindness. 

The  virile  apostles  of  idealism  who  roused 
Great  Britain  from  her  materialism  and  spiritual 
lethargy  in  the  nineteenth  century  were  filled 
with  the  mystical  as  well  as  with  the  ethical 
spirit.  Coleridge's  Aids  to  Reflection,  though 
formal  and  intellectual,  may  nevertheless  claim 
a  place  among  the  classics  of  mysticism,  for  its 

religion  and  belongs,  it  seems  to  me,  rather  in  that  category.  There  is  as 
much,  if  not  more,  of  mysticism  in  that  equally  cheerful  little  book,  written 
in  deep  adversity.  Sir  Thomas  More's  Dialogue  of  Comforte  Agaynste 
Tribulacion. 


MYSTICAL  LITERATURE  201 

influence  in  molding  spiritual  thought  and  life. 
Wordsworth,   greatest   of   all   religious   nature 
mystics,  has  done  much  to  impregnate  our  age 
with  true  mysticism,  and  in  his  Ode  on  Immor- 
tality, Lines  Above  T intern  Abbey,  and  in  many 
of  the  Sonnets  and  other  poems  has  made  price- 
less contributions  to  the  undying  literature  of 
the  spiritual  life.     Carlyle,  too,  in  spite  of  his 
growling  pessimism,  is  often  found  among  the 
prophets,  with  messages  not  only  of  righteous- 
ness  but   of   profound   trust.      That  piece   of/ 
stormy    earnestness    Sartor    Resartus     almost/ 
deserves  a  place  in  mystical  literature.     Far\ 
more  certainly   does  Ruskin's  sparkling  gem,  / 
glowing    with    mystical    feeling    and    beauty,/ 
Sesame  and  Lilies.  ^ 

Here  and  there  in  Keble's  Christian  Year, 
especially  in  the  Morning  Hymn  and  Evening 
Hymn,  one  comes  upon  a  fine  strain  of  the 
mysticism  that  marked  its  gifted  author,  but 
much  of  this  prized  book  of  devotion  is  too 
conventional  and  churchly  to  be  truly  mystical. 
In  the  Victorian  poets  we  reach  a  full  current 
of  mystic  thought,  flowing  deep  and  strong 
between  banks  of  richest  verdure.  In  such 
poems  of  Tennyson  as  The  Higher  Pantheism,  \^^ 
In  Memoriam,  and  T'he  Ancient  Seer,  and  in  such 
poems  of  Browning  as  Paracelsus,  Easter  Eve, 
and  Abt  Vogler,  we  have  a  mysticism  whose 


202      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

wealth  of  thought  and  of  imagination  attest  the 
age  in  which  they  were  written,  as  well  as  the 
spiritual  culture  of  two  poets  of  extraordinary 
religious  insight.  Mrs.  Browning,  too,  deftly 
unclasps  the  book  of  life  and  lets  us  read  therein 
such  tender  secrets  as  are  found  in  A  Child's 
Thovght  of  God,  and  The  Rhyme  of  the  Duchess 
May.  Nor  can  we  say  that  the  canon  of  mysti- 
cism is  closed  when  out  of  the  heart  of  the 
London  waif,  Francis  Thompson,  who  has  been 
called  "the  greatest  mystical  poet  of  our  time,"^ 
in  our  own  prosaic  day,  come  poems  of  such 
thrilling  spiritual  power  as  The  Hound  of  Heaven 
and  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 

IV 

Turning  again  from  England  to  the   Con- 
tinent, we  should  not  fail  to  take  account  in 
French  devotional  literature  of  a  volume  that    L/ 
gleams  with  peculiar  luster — Pascal's  Thoughts, 
It  is  a  book  of  star  flashes  rather  than  of  sun- 
beams,   scintillating    with    wisdom    that    has 
issued  from  a  great  mystical  experience,  though 
charged  with  a  subtle  skepticism  that  by  no 
means   belongs   to   mysticism   as   such.     Less 
brilliant,  but  nearer  to  the  heart  of  mysticism,      / 
are  Fenelon's  writings.   His  Spiritual  Letters  are  v 
like  an  autumn  harvest  field  bathed  in  the  light 

*  Evelyn  Underbill:   Mysticism,  p.  1Q\. 


MYSTICAL  LITERATURE  203 

of  Christian  love.  Madame  Guyon's  Method  of 
Prayer^  which  she  calls  "the  application  of  the 
heart  to  God  and  the  internal  exercise  of  love," 
is  one  of  the  few  satisfying  books  upon  prayer. 
Very  different  in  its  atmosphere,  yet  imbued 
with  the  same  spirit,  is  the  Journal  of  Frederic 
Amiel,  an  enkindling  record  of  victory  over 
modern  skepticism,  with  its  calm  and  heroic 
joyousness  and  its  revelations  of  the  strength  of 
a  suffering  and  loving  soul  that  has  found  the 
secret  of  true  peace.  German  literature  is  alto- 
gether too  ample  a  field  for  me  to  invade.  Its 
richly  mystical  character,  from  the  Nibelungen- 
Lied  onward,  is  manifest  upon  even  the  slightest 
acquaintance.  The  mysticism  of  Schilleu  and 
Goethe  is  pervasive.  That  of  Goethe,  though 
often  pagan  in  character,  is  always  illuminated 
by  Christianity.  German  philosophy  too  has 
produced  many  a  volume  deeply  mystical  in 
spirit,  notably  Fichte's  Vocation  of  Man,   i^^--^" 

Coming  to  "visions  and  revelations,"  the 
reader  of  mystical  literature  halts  deeply 
impressed  before  the  writings  of  Emmanuel 
Swedenborg,  whose  message,  especially  in 
Heaven  and  Hell,  has  found  so  many  groping 
hearts  in  their  hour  of  darkness  and  brought 
a  clearness  of  vision  and  a  comfort  which  mere 
vagaries  could  not  permanently  produce. 

Tolstoy's  moving  autobiography  of  a  serious 


204      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

soul,  ^My  Confessions,  is  a  thoroughly  mystical 
solution  of  the  ancient  quest  after  the  living 
God.  That  acknowledged  and  grateful,  though 
not  always  consistent,  debtor  to  the  mystics 
Maurice  Maeterlinck  has  given  us  in  some  of 
his  writings,  especially  The  Treasure  of  the 
Humble,  a  beautiful  expression  of  the  mystical 
spirit,  as  also  in  that  bit  of  Ariel  literature 
which  has  captured  so  many  hearts.  The  Blue 
Bird. 

Not  many  American  books  have  become 
world  texts  of  mysticism.  Not  that  there  are 
not  many  volumes  of  spiritual  insight  and 
beauty  in  American  literature;  but  few  have 
been  "enshrined  among  the  world's  masterpieces. 
The  conspicuous  and  ever- vital  contribution  of 
America  to  the  literature  of  mysticism  is,  of 
?  course,  the  Essays  of  Emerson,  lofty,  serene, 
bathed  in  the  light  of  the  Over-Soul — reverent 
contemplations  of  the  universe  by  a  beholding 
soul.  i^Whittier's  poems  rank  next,  quiet  and 
sacred,  like  woodland  paths  in  the  "ieverish 
ways"  of  modern  life,  full  of  the  hush  and 
serenity  of  the  spirit  world.'\  Very  different  in 
tone  and  structure,  yet  stirring  in  their  own 
impetuous  mysticism,  are  some  of  the  poems  of 
the  hobo  mystic  Walt  Whitman,  who  well 
illustrates  how  even  a  soiled  singer  can  be  at 
times   purified  of   dross.     Cherished  poems  of 


MYSTICAL  LITERATURE  205 

other  American  poets,  such  as  Bryant's  To  a 
Waterfowl,  Lowell's  Commemoration .  Ode,  La- 
nier's Marshes  of  Glynn,  many  of  the  poems  of 
Henry  W.  Longfellow,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes, 
William  Vaughn  Moody,  K  R.  Sill^  Emily 
Dickinson,  Henry  van  Dyke,  and  others,  while 
they  could  not  all  be  called  classics,  touch  a 
chord  that  makes  the  spiritual  world  real  and 
magnetic.    ^'i".-/l//--.^^'-'::i^-\   ^r /-'"-■'-'>- -" 

If  we  were  to  enter  the  field  of  fiction  in  this 
survey,  we  would  find  so  much  of  the  mystical 
element  as  to  make  many  a  work  of  fiction 
almost  a  book  of  devotion.  Deeply  hallowing 
and  mystical  are  some  of  the  stories  of  the 
writers  who  touch  the  heart  most  tenderly, 
like  Scott,  Dickens,  Hawthorne,  Victor  Hugo, 
Charles  Kingsley,  and  George  Macdonald. 
Here,  too,  are  such  nature  parables  as  Sain- 
taine's  Picciola,  and  such  character  portraits  as 
John  Halifax,  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  Colonel 
Newcomb,  David  Elginbrod,  Doctor  MacLure,  and 
hosts  of  others.  In  how  many  of  us  has  some 
noble  tale  of  fiction  stirred  the  chords  of  sym- 
pathy and  admiration,  till  the  mystic  music  of 
idealism  and  aspiration  has  rapt  us  away  into 
another  world! 

V 

Of  all  the  springs  and  streams  from  which 


20G      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

the  heart  of  Christendom  drinks,  none  is  so 
perpetual  a  source  of  refreshment  as  the  Chris- 
tian hymn  book.  There  are  hymns  and  hymns 
— militant,  doctrinal,  patriotic,  didactic,  hor- 
tatory— ^but  the  hymns  that  upon  the  whole  are 
the  dearest  to  the  heart  of  the  Christian  are 
the  mystical  ones.  Such  modern  hymns — not  to 
speak  of  the  mediaeval — as  Nearer,  My  God,  to 
Thee;  In  the  Cross  of  Christ  I  Glory;  Jesus,  Lover 
of  My  Soul;  Abide  With  Me;  0  Love  Divine  That 
Stooped  to  Share;  Dear  Lord  and  Father  of  Man- 
kind; 0  Love  That  Wilt  Not  Let  Me  Go — so 
simple,  yet  so  profound  and  universal  in  their 
appeal — nourish  the  heart  with  an  almost 
miraculous  food. 

The  books  of  prayer  too  furnish  mystical 
manna,  to  be  gathered  daily.  The  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  though  marred  by  externalism, 
institutionalism,  and  occasional  abjectness,  is 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  mystical  communion, 
and  in  this  lies  its  real  strength  and  grace. 
The  prayers  of  the  ages,  as  they  have  been 
gathered  in  various  collections,  retain  their 
spiritual  fragrance,  like  attar  of  roses.  Nor 
have  all  the  prayers  been  uttered  that  spring 
from  the  confidence  in  God  that  grows  out  of 
fresh-felt  needs.  Witness  Stevenson's  Prayers 
and  that  uplifting  contribution  to  devotional 
literature  by  Dr.  Rauschenbusch,  Prayers  for 


MYSTICAL  LITERATURE  207 

the  Social  Awakening,  with  their  revelation  of 
what  may  still  result  when  the  spirit  of  man 
rises  to  meet  with  the  Spirit  of  God. 

VI 

Deep  and  true,  pure  and  exhilarating,  is  the 
literature  of  mysticism,  "the  sweet  food  of 
sweetly  uttered  knowledge,"  and  far  richer  in 
extent  than  we  have  even  indicated.  The 
best  outcome  of  our  undertaking  is,  perhaps,  to 
show  its  impossibility.  Nor  is  there  any  reason 
why  this  literature  may  not  be  even  richer  in 
the  future  than  in  the  past.  As  the  spirit  of 
mysticism  embodied  in  Christianity  comes  into 
closer  touch  with  the  mystic  mind  of  the  race 
at  large,  with  its  varied  and  inexhaustible  pos- 
sibilities of  worship  and  joy,  there  will  be  ever 
new  impartations  of  truth,  new  outpourings  of 
prayers,  new  libations  of  song.  For  nothing, 
save  human  refusal,  can  quench  the  flow  of  the 
Divine  Spirit  as  it  imparts  itself  to  men.  It 
was  but  yesterday  that  there  came,  from  the 
heart  of  Bengal,  Song  Offerings,  whose  freshness 
and  purity  have  made  every  reader  newly 
aware  of  the  power  of  the  Eternal  to  awaken 
a  response  in  the  listening  soul. 

When  thou  commandest  me  to  sing  it  seems 
that  my  heart  would  break  with  pride,  and  I 
look  to  thy  face,  and  tears  come  to  my  eyes. 


208     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

All  that  is  harsh  and  dissonant  in  my  life 
melts  into  one  sweet  harmony — and  my  adora- 
tion spreads  wings  like  a  glad  bird  on  its  flight 
across  the  sea. 

I  know  thou  takest  pleasure  in  my  singing.  I 
know  that  only  as  a  singer  I  come  before  thy 
presence. 

I  touch  by  the  edge  of  the  far-spreading  wing 
of  my  song  thy  feet  which  I  could  never  aspire 
to  reach. 

Drunk  with  the  joy  of  singing  I  forget  myself, 
and  call  thee  friend  who  art  my  Lord. 


CHAPTER  X 

MYSTICISM  AND  THE  MODERN 
CHURCH 

If  one  takes  the  wings  of  the  morning  and 
makes  his  way  back  to  the  days  of  the  early 
church,  he  finds  that  the  secret  of  its  Hfe  was 
primarily  a  mystical  fellowship.^  Not  that  it 
lacked  organization  and  activities,  oflBces  and 
charities,  but  these  were  all  actuated  and  infilled 
by  one  uniting  and  vitalizing  Spirit.  It  is  the 
presence  of  this  Spirit,  in  fact,  that  made  and 
still  makes  the  church.  Where  two  or  three 
gather  together  constantly  in  Christ's  name 
there  is  a  church.  Ubi  Spiritus;  ibi  Ecclesia. 
And  where  this  mystic  Christ,  this  quickening 
Spirit,  is  not  present,  there  is  no  church,  in  the 
true  sense.  Polities,  creeds,  clergy,  sacraments, 
ministries — important  as  these  are  as  instru- 
ments of  the  Spirit — do  not  constitute  and  can- 
not preserve  a  church. 

The    one    supreme    concern    of    the    church 


1  "Whoever  has  any  uaderstanding  at  all  for  mystical  religion  will 
increasingly  recognize  how  intensely  it  was  at  work  in  early  Christianity.  ' 
(Adolf  Deissmann:  "New  Testament  Research,"  The  Constructive  Quar- 
terly, vol.  ii,  4,  p.  798). 

209 


210      MYSTICISM  AND  MODEKN  LIFE 

should  be  to  seek  and  to  respond  to  the  Spirit, 
both  in  its  worship  and  in  its  work;  in  other 
words,  to  keep  open  the  channels  of  the  Hfe 
that  we  have  been  caUing  mystical.  It  will  be 
the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  consider  how  this 
may  be  done  more  fully  than  at  present  and 
what  the  results  would  be,  if  the  church  were 
but  more  responsive  to  the  Spirit.  We  will 
think  first  of  the  place  of  mysticism  in  the 
worship  of  the  church,  then  of  its  place  in  the 
work  of  the  church,  and  lastly  of  its  relation  to 
the  furtherance  of  church  unity. 

Something  is  wanting  in  our  worship  to-day. 

Something  always  has  been  wanting, — yet  not 

wholly.     Else    (as   Emerson   would   say)    how 

could  we  know  that  it  is  wanting.^    What  is  it.? 

The  celestial  fire,  the  divine  breath,  the  invisible 

presence,  the  Holy  Spirit.     Call  it  what  you 

will,  it  is  the  one  reality,  without  which  worship 

is  a  desert  waste  and  with  which  it  is  a  fountain 

I  of  life.    Whatever  the  secret  of  worship  is,  it  is 

I  an  indefinable  spiritual  experience.     It  has  a 

.psychology,    a    methodology,    but    it    wholly 

jitranscends  these.    It  will  not  yield  to  analysis 

lor  formula.    Rare  as  the  spirit  of  true  worship 

is — transient,  elusive — it  is  as  germane  to  the 

soul  as  fresh  air  to  the  lungs,  as  beauty  to  the 

eye,  or  harmony  to  the  ear.    Once  experienced, 

worship    will    never    be    abandoned.      We   go 


THE  MODERN  CHURCH  211 

through  the  forms  perseveringly,  always  hoping 
that  through  them,  in  some  way,  the  Spirit  will 
return,  yet  seldom  asking  what  we  have  done  to 
lose  it  and  how  it  may  again  be  won. 

It  is  only  as  we  approach  public  worship  as 
a  mystical  reality  that  we  can  hope  to  realize 
it.  Treated  either  externally  or  analytically,  it 
escapes  and  leaves  only  ashes.  If  we  ask  what 
can  be  done  to  make  worship  effective  in  order 
to  win  men  back  to  the  church  for  the  sake  of 
the  church,  or  for  any  other  ulterior  end,  the 
spirit  of  worship  will  surely  elude  us.  If  we 
seek  only  how  to  worship  God  in  spirit  and  in 
truth  we  shall  find  the  Spirit  Himself  seeking 
us. 

But  if  we  would  unlock  the  door  of  worship 
with  the  key  of  mysticism,  we  must  first  meet 
the  objection:    Is  not  mysticism,  in  its  veryl 
spirit  and  nature,  out  of  touch  with  common  I 
worship  .f^    Is  not  the  mystic  the  man  who  can   1 
worship  alone  and  anywhere,  who  needs  neither    \ 
place  nor  fellowship  for  his  devotion .^^     True;     I 
but  the  fact  that  he  can  worship  alone  is  just     I 
the  reason  why  he  can  best  worship  with  others.     I 
Moreover,    the    mystic,    though    he    does    not 
always  recognize  it,  needs  common  worship  to  ^ 
sustain  his  individual  worship.    It  is  the  fusion 
of  individual  religious  aspirations  and  experi- 
ences that  gives  reality  and  power  to  common 


212      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

worship.  Each  individual  worshiper  brings  to 
the  common  worship  much — and  carries  away 
more.  The  accumulated  intensity  of  corpo- 
rate mystical  experience  is  a  most  striking 
fact.  The  psychology  of  the  congregation  is 
very  different  from  that  of  the  crowd.  It  is 
to  the  two  or  three  together  that  the  Christ 
presence  becomes  most  real.  It  is  when  those 
who  have  been  already  touched  by  the  Spirit 
are  with  one  accord  in  one  place  that  the  Spirit 
comes  upon  them  like  a  rushing,  mighty  wind. 
To  recover  the  heart  of  worship,  clearly  the 
first  step  is  one  of  purification.  We  have  too 
far  lost  the  soul  in  the  form;  the  outer  has 
imprisoned  the  inner.  We  are  fettered  by  our 
forms  and  stifled  by  our  conventionalities. 
Cleansing  must  come  before  enrichment.  We 
must  find  out  what  is  defeating  our  worship 
and  expel  it.  A  candid  scrutiny  of  public 
worship,  as  it  is  carried  on  to-day,  cannot  fail 
to  disclose  certain  factors  out  of  keeping  with 
purity  of  worship. 

I 

First  of  all,  of  course,  is  that  ancient  and 
insidious  foe  of  worship — ^impurity  of  heart  and 
motive.  Men  cannot  worship  while  they  are 
cherishing  wrong  thoughts  and  motives.  The 
Old    Testament   might   have   taught   us   this. 


THE  MODERN  CHURCH  213 

Much  more,  Jesus.  "Leave  there  thy  gift 
before  the  altar."  First  reconcihation,  human 
relationships  righted,  then  worship.  In  Thomas 
More's  Utopia  all  family  differences  and  jars 
are  set  right  before  attending  public  worship. 
"Thus  all  little  discontents  in  families  are 
removed,  that  so  they  may  offer  up  their 
devotions  with  a  pure  and  serene  mind;  for 
they  hold  it  a  great  impiety  to  enter  upon 
them  with  disturbed  thoughts;  or  when  they 
are  conscious  to  themselves .  that  they  bear 
hatred  or  anger  in  their  hearts  to  any  person." 

It  is  of  no  use  for  us  to  try  to  evade  this  law. 
If  our  churches  are  selfishly  upholding  wrong 
economic  conditions,  or  cherishing  an  un- 
brotherly  spirit,  we  cannot  expect  them  to  be 
filled  with  the  spirit  of  worship.  Whether  they 
are  or  not,  whether  any  individual  church  is 
doing  so  or  not,  belongs  to  no  outside  critic  to 
say.  It  does  behoove  the  church  as  a  whole, 
as  well  as  each  individual  church,  to  ask  itself 
the  question  in  all  honesty  and  searchingness  of 
heart.  And  with  it  belongs  the  question  whether 
we  can  hope  to  have  the  true  spirit  of  worship 
while  we  cherish  sectarian  and  denominational 
pride  and  indifference.  Those  who  serve  one 
God  should  draw  together  for  worship,  if  they 
expect  to  have  his  Spirit  with  them. 

In  the  conduct  of  worship  itseff  there  are 


214      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

manifest  abuses  that  directly  antagonize  its 
spirit.  Chief  are  what  may,  perhaps,  be 
termed  choirism,  pulpitism  and  pewism.  Choir- 
ism  is  put  first  because  it  is  most  obnoxious  to 
the  mystical  spirit.  It  is  not  the  choir  as  such 
that  is  objectionable,  for  music  has  always 
been  a  foremost  factor  in  ideal  worship.  It  is 
only  the  contrast  between  the  celestial  choir 
and  the  ecclesiastical,  and  that,  not  so  much  in 
the  quality  of  the  music  as  in  its  motive  and 
inspiration.  Music  as  an  exhibition  is  one 
thing;  music  as  praise  is  another.  An  operatic 
choir,  that  has  no  sympathy  with  Christian 
worship,  installed  in  the  most  conspicuous 
place  in  -the  church,  dominating  the  entire 
service,  its  members  blighting,  by  their  conduct, 
all  parts  of  the  worship,  comes  very  near  ful- 
filling the  prophecy  of  the  abomination  of  deso- 
lation set  up  in  the  holy  place.  It  is  said  that  on 
the  occasion  of  an  exchange  of  pulpits  of  Horace 
Bushnell  and  Nathanael  Burton  one  of  them 
found  in  the  desk  of  the  other  an  order  of  service 
in  which  the  principal  items  were:  Ballooning 
by  the  choir;  more  ballooning  by  the  choir,  and 
closing:  Benediction,  hurry  for  the  doors, 
silence  and  the  restored  presence  of  God. 
Worse  than  the  Covenanters  feared  from  the 
introduction  of  music  into  the  church  service 
has  happened  in  a  large  number  of  the  wealthier 


THE  MODERN  CHURCH  215 

Protestant  churches.     Must  we  have  another 
Puritan  uprisal  to  purify  our  worship? 

Pulpitism  is  another  serious  obstacle  to  true 
worship.  By  pulpitism  is  meant  the  obtrusion 
of  the  minister's  individuality — not  his  per- 
sonality, for  that  is  hidden  in  the  process — his 
peculiarities  and  poverties  of  mind  and  spirit, 
his  crotchets  and  conceits,  his  notions  and 
nostrums,  so  that  the  better  man  within — the 
Christ  man — is  obscured  and  makes  no  contact 
with  his  congregation.  The  freedom  of  the 
Protestant  pulpit  is  at  once  its  blessing  and  its 
bane.  It  gives  to  a  weak  man  the  same  oppor-  \^ 
tunity  to  display  his  weaknesses  as  to  the  strong 
man  to  exercise  his  strength.  As  a  consequence, 
there  is  sometimes  a  degradation  of  worship 
through  a  use  of  the  pulpit-  which  is  neither 
reverent  nor  Christian.^  In  reporting  a  ques- 
tionnaire on  the  subject  of  '*Non-Religious  Per- 
sons," Professor  Edward  S.  Ames  quotes  one 
respondent  as  saying,  ** Apart  from  its  dog- 
matism, the  pragmatic  attitude  of  all  evangelical 
Protestant    churches    I    have    known    arouses 


-  Dr.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  pointed  out  this  temporary  decadence  of  the 
Christian  ideal  in  an  interview  in  the  Presbyterian  Banner  in  1907.  The 
cardinal  weakness  of  the  ministry  to-day,  he  said,  "is  putting  the  chief 
emphasis  on  the  institutional  side  of  Christianity  rather  than  on  its  mystical 
side;  by  that  I  mean  that  the  appeal  of  the  ministry  is  too  predominantly 
a  call  to  social  service.  I  appreciate  the  pressing  call  to  social  service, 
'but  would  first  lead  ministry  and  people  to  the  true  source  of  power  in 
mystical  communion  with  God.  There  must  be  a  perennial  fountain  before 
there  can  be  a  stream.    The  inner  side  of  Christianity  is  being  undervalued."  ' 


210      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

instinctive  prejudices  in  me."^  He  who  has 
not  felt  something  of  that  repulsion  must  be 
either  exceedingly  charitable  or  exceedingly 
fortunate.  The  preacher  who  surrenders  to 
self-assertion,  to  captiousness,  to  scolding,  or 
to  sensationalism  must  bear  the  heavy  respon- 
sibility of  perverting  his  pulpit  and  of  aiding 
in  driving  the  spirit  of  worship  from  the 
church. 

As  for  pewism  as  a  deadener  of  public  worship, 
who  does  not  know  what  .that  is.^^  The  chronic 
critic,  or  the  man  with  proprietary  rights  and 
bearing  at  the  end  of  the  pew  on  the  center  aisle 
with  his  retinue  beside  him,  facing  the  whole 
service  in  the  attitude  of:  *T  have  paid  for  this 
affair  and  it  must  be  carried  out  to  my  approval" 
— is  he  a  worshiper?  Heaven  save  the  mark! 
If  he  does  not  succeed  in  reducing  the  spiritual 
\^  atmosphere  to  the  freezing  point  it  is  only 
because  the  mystic  in  the  free  pew  counteracts 
him.  It  is  because  much  of  the  salt  of  the  earth 
is  still  in  our  churches  and  because  the  mystic 
chord  in  the  heart  of  all  of  us  is  sometimes 
stirred,  even  by  the  most  bungling  efforts,  that 
the  spirit  of  worship  still  abides  in  our  churches. 
To  eradicate  the  impervious,  incorrigible,  un- 
worshipful  pewism  from  some  churches  is  as 
difficult  a  task  as  the  church  confronts.     And 


*  "Non-Religiovis  Persons,"  The  American  Journal  of  Theology,  iii,  p.  553. 


THE  MODERN  CHURCH  217 

yet  even  the  stoniest  pew-holder  has  some- 
thing of  the  mystic  in  him  and  will  yield  to  the 
tide  of  spiritual  worship  if  it  only  becomes 
strong  enough  to  humble  him. 

How  meagerly  and  incompetently  the  church 
is  using  the  noble  resources  of  common  wor- 
ship! What  unrealized  possibilities  are  here! 
If  the  church  could  but  command  the  heart  of 
music,  instead  of  merely  its  services,  if  by  some 
miracle  of  grace  the  organists  and  choristers 
of  the  churches  could  all  be  transformed  into 
devout  and  dedicated  worshipers,  so  that  sacred 
music  could  be  seen  and  felt  to  be  "the  love  of  ^ 
God  made  manifest  to  the  sense";  if  the  hymns 
could  be  sung  again  as  they  were  in  the  days  of 
Luther;  if  prayer  could  become  what  prayer 
might  be  as  an  expression  of  the  deep,  ineradic- 
able longings  of  the  human  soul,  met  and  ful- 
filled by  the  inflow  of  divine  love;  if  the  pulpit 
everywhere  could  but  become  the  true  organ 
and  interpreter  of  the  divine  message,  trained, 
responsive,  enkindled;  if  the  people  would  but 
commit  themselves  to  the  great  act  of  worship 
in  the  mystic  sense  of  its  measureless  power  and 
joy,  we  should  see  worship  assume  its  rightful, 
incomparable,  uplifting  place  in  human  life. 

II 

As  the  worship  of  the  church  thrives  upon 


218     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

the  mystical  impulse,  so  also  does  its  work. 
Much  of  the  world's  work  goes  on  through  the 
compulsion  of  necessity.  Not  so  with  that  of 
the  church.  Its  work  should  flow  from  a  deeper 
and  freer  motive.  If  the  church  is  to  be  in  the 
world,  like  its  Master,  "as  one  that  serves,"  it 
must  have  his  motive,  and  his  sustenance  for 
service. 

The  present  emphasis  upon  social  service, 
practical  Christianity,  in  the  church  is  most 
hopeful  and  Christlike.  The  awakening  of  the 
church  to  social  righteousness  is  a  true  religious 
awakening.  To  belittle  it  is  to  misjudge  one  of 
the  chief  spiritual  revivals  of  our  time.  And 
yet  there  is  a  danger  that  this  movement  will 
either  die  of  inanition  or  become  a  purely 
mechanical  and  heartless  thing,  unless  it  is  fed 
with  the  spirit  of  faith  and  love  which  burns 
on  the  altar  of  Christianity,  but  which  vdll  not 
take  care  of  itself. 

Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  a  deep  and 
passionate  sense  of  the  worth  of  personality,  or, 
in  older  parlance,  "the  value  of  an  individual 
soul."  This  is  essentially  a  mystical  valuation. 
It  finds  its  most  intense  expression  in  the  New 
Testament,  in  such  parables  as  the  lost  sheep 
and  the  prodigal  son.  Whatever  society,  aided 
by  the  church,  may  do  to  redeem  the  wilder- 
ness where  the  sheep  get  lost,  or  to  reform  the 


THE  MODERN  CHURCH  219 

far  country  where  the  prodigal  goes  astray,  is 
most  desirable;  but  if  the  sheep  itself,  or  the 
son  himself,  is  lost  sight  of  in  the  process  the 
end  disappears  in  the  means.  As  Dean  Shailer 
Mathews,  one  of  the  foremost  among  the 
exponents  of  the  social  gospel,  writes,  "Reli- 
gion, to  be  anything  more  than  humanitarian- 
ism,  must  give  us  companionship  with  the  God 
of  our  spirits." 

Yet  it  is  not  mere  contact  with  others  that 
we  need  so  much  as  humanized,  personalized 
contact — such  contact  as  is  exemplified  by  the 
true  social  settlement  worker  who  loves  "folks" 
more  than  "better  conditions,"  or,  rather,  who 
works  for  better  conditions  for  the  sake  of 
folks.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  so  many  of 
the  social  workers  in  America  are  members  of 
churches.  It  is  clear  where  they  have  gotten 
much,  at  least,  of  their  original  impulse  and 
inspiration.  Here  is  a  new  form  of  mystical 
service,  springing  up  in  our  day  and  sending 
men  and  women  into  slum  and  alley  instead  of 
into  hermitage  and  monastery.  Of  these  newest 
mystics,  Vida  Scudder  writes: 

Who  could  to-day  honor  the  mystic  who,  in 
a  great  modern  city,  should  shut  his  ears  to  the 
cries  of  the  distressed  and  dedicate  himself  to 
the   pursuit   of   a   metaphysical   light,   or   the   . 
solitary  practice  of  the  presence  of  a  heartless 


I 


220      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

God?  Saint  Teresa  is  organizing  settlements 
instead  of  convents.  Saint  Catherine  of  Genoa 
is  head  of  a  training  school  for  nurses  which 
leaves  her  scant  leisure  for  ecstasies  of  "Pure 
Love."  The  social  situation  forces  materialism 
on  us  all,  if  by  materialism  is  meant  a  primary 
and  troubled  preoccupation  with  the  bodily 
and  social  needs  of  the  human  race.^ 

The  danger  is  that,  as  this  splendid  work  for 
the  betterment  of  social  conditions  continues, 
it  may  get  farther  and  farther  from  its  source 
and  lose  the  original  motives  which  prompted  it, 
that  it  may  become  so  immersed  in  the  reform 
of  outward  conditions  that  it  will  overlook  the 
persons  who  are,  after  all,  the  chief  concern. 
Miss  Scudder  detects  this  danger  and  writes: 

No  thinker  was  ever  satisfied  with  the  descrip- 
tion of  Saint  James.  To  do  justly  and  to  love 
mercy  is  all  very  well,  but  how  about  walking 
humbly  with  one's  God?  Detachment,  recol- 
lection, impassioned  union  with  the  Eternal 
are  no  mere  delusions  of  the  childhood  of  the 
race,  fading  with  the  advancing  day;  they  are 
the  deepest  necessity  of  humanity's  manhood. 
Already  a  reaction  is  in  order;  the  quest  after 
the  ultimate  meaning  of  this  mysterious  life  of 
ours  revives  on  every  hand. 


*  "The  Social  Conscience  of  the  Future,"  Hibbert  Journal,  vol.  vii, 
1,  p.  593. 


THE  MODERN  CHURCH  221 

It  should  be  a  cause  of  serious  concern  that 
the  present  revival  of  mysticism  is  not  so  much 
in  the  church  as  outside.  The  church,  which 
has  always  done  so  much  to  nourish  the  mystical 
life,  has  of  late  years  too  far  forgotten  the  un- 
failing need  and  value  of  this  quiet,  incon- 
spicuous ministry  and  has  been  somewhat 
feverishly  throwing  herself  into  social  service, 
as  if  this  were  her  chief  mission/  It  is  her 
mission  to  undertake  the  task  of  social  reform 
when  no  other  agency  will  assume  it,  but  her 
chief  mission  is  after  all  to  nourish  motive,  to 
enkindle  the  passion  that  sends  men  and  women 
out  into  social  service  with  a  faith  which  re- 
moves tenement  house  mountains  and  trans- 
forms desert  areas  of  cities  into  gardens. 
Whatever  the  church  does,  as  a  church,  in  social 
work,  should  be  done  more  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  that  she  is  in  earnest  in  her  spirit  and 
message  than  because  such  service  is  properly 
hers.  Hers  is  the  higher  mission  of  developing 
spiritual  personality,  of  kindling  and  replenish- 
ing the  fires  of  faith,  of  bringing  men  into  touch 
with  God,  and  thus  sending  them  forth  en- 
heartened  for  individual  service  and  for  larger 
cooperation  in  social  service  than  any  single 
church  can  secure. 

*  The  best  diaciiasion  of  tte  mutual  relations  of  social  service  and  mystical 
religious  experience  that  I  know  of  is  that  contained  in  the  sixth  chapter  of 
Professor  Rauschenbusch's  Christianizing  the  Social  Order. 


^ 


I 


222      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

III 

In  nothing  is  there  greater  need  for  the 
realization  of  the  dependence  of  the  church 
upon  the  Divine  Spirit  than  in  the  movement 
toward  Christian  unity  now  in  progress.  A 
common  experience  alone  can  supply  the  basis 
and  bond  of  unity.  The  essence  of  Christianity 
has  been  made  too  exclusively  either  a  historical 
or  a  philosophical  problem.  Both  of  these  it 
is,  in  fact.  But  the  question,  what  constitutes 
the  essence  of  Christianity,  formally  and 
doctrinally,  is  subordinate  to  its  essence  as 
spiritual  experience.  It  is  only  as  we  grasp 
that  which  is  common  in  Christian  experience, 
in  the  first  century  and  in  our  own,  and  in  all 
that  intervene,  that  we  understand  the  essence 
of  Christianity,  which  is  a  filial  communion 
and  cooperation  with  God,  so  deep  and  real 
as  to  transform  life.  This  spirit  came  through 
Jesus.  Not  that  it  was  absolutely  new  with 
him,  but  it  was  so  intense  and  fructifying  as 
to  exercise  an  almost  creative  influence  upon 
those  who  came  to  share  it  with  and  through 
him. 

Through  all  the  history  of  Christianity  this 
inward  Christian  experience  has  survived,  over- 
laid and  even  contradicted  by  ecclesiasticism, 
theologism,  and  sectarianism.  Mystical  litera- 
ture, especially  the  Bible,  has  served  as  the 


THE  MODERN  CHURCH  223 

vial,  the  chalice,  for  the  preservation  of  the 
vital  and  essential  spirit  of  Christianity.  Our 
hymns,  too,  are  transmitters  of  this  common 
experience. 

We  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  time  has 
come  when  experiential  Christianity  is  to  be 
regnant,  as  it  never  has  been  before  since  the 
flower  of  early  Christianity  faded.  The  hour 
seems  at  hand  when  the  outward  and  incidental 
and  divisive  will  give  place  to  the  inner  and 
essential  and  unitive.  As  Bishop  Brent  has 
said,  "When  the  disturbed  and  broken  Chris- 
tian Church  comes  to  rest  in  the  large  scheme 
of  unity,  planned  by  its  Founder,  then  the 
mystical  life  of  man  will  gain  a  power  and 
a  splendor  which  now  is  but  a  vision  and  a 
hope."« 

Protestantism  is  undergoing  a  most  hopeful 
transformation  in  the  direction  of  experiential 
unity.  It  shows  itself  in  the  widespread  revolt 
against  the  supremacy  of  doctrinal  theology — 
a  rebellion  which  has,  however,  too  far  taken 
the  form  of  a  senseless  root-and-branch  attack 
against  theology  itself,  instead  of  against  its 
dogmatic^  perversion — ^in  a  growing  distrust  of 
literalism  and  narrowness,  and  an  increasing 
tendency  on  the  part  of  denominations  and 
individual  churches  to  draw  nearer  together  in 

«  The  Sixth  Sense,  p.  104. 


224      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

sympathy  and  cooperation.  "The  conscious 
presence  of  God,"  declares  Dr.  Peter  Ainslee, 
"is  the  normal  height  of  the  soul's  attainment, 
and  Christian  union  is  the  pathway  by  which 
we  will  attain  unto  that  abiding  communion 
with  the  Unseen  for  which  we  long  and  without 
which  we  shall  never  be  satisfied."^  Nothing 
but  inner  experience,  a  common  spiritual  life 
which  all  Christians  share — however  varied  in 
expression — will  serve  to  account  for  this  trend 
toward  union  or  bring  it  to  its  fulfillment. 

How  far  will  this  affect  our  relation  to  the 
Roman  Catholics  .'^  The  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  Ritschlians  to  prove  that  mysticism  is  an 
essentially  and  solely  Roman  Catholic  form  of 
piety  seems  singularly  arbitrary  in  view  of  its 
history.  The  attitude  of  the  Roman  Church 
toward  mysticism  has  never  been  any  too  cor- 
dial. It  has,  in  fact,  been  too  often  characterized 
either  by  an  attitude  of  toleration  toward  a 
half-alien  habit  of  mind  or  by  favor  shown  to 
mystics,  not  so  much  on  account  of  their  piety 
as  of  their  power.*  At  times,  as  in  the  cases  of 
Molinos  and  Madame  Guyon,  it  has  resorted  to 
open  hostility  and  suppression.     The  mystics 


7  The  Message  of  the  Disciples  for  the  Union  of  the  Church,  p.  37. 

8  A  great  deal  might  be  said,  though  I  think,  on  the  whole,  unfairly,  in 
support  of  the  thesis  that  the  most  representative  Roman  Catholic  Eccle- 
siastical mysticism  is  that  which  runs  into  theurgy  and  spectacularism, 
represented  by  such  writers  as  Gorres  and  Ribet.    See  Inge,  p.  264. 


THE  MODERN  CHURCH  225 

on  their  part  have  either  sought  reHef  from  the 
trammels  and  evils  of  the  church  by  instituting 
or  joining  monastic  orders,  or  have  found 
themselves  compelled  to  attack  the  reigning 
evils  and  dogmatisms  of  the  church,  as  have 
Savonarola,  Dante,  Michael  Angelo,  Tyrrell, 
and  so  many  others.  The  loyalty  which,  on 
the  whole,  the  mystics  have  maintained  toward 
the  church  has  been  a  loyalty  to  the  ideal 
rather  than  to  the  actual  church. 

The  marked  honor  paid  by  Protestants  to 
the  great  Catholic  mystics  and  their  writings  is 
significant.  Dante  has  probably  had  more — 
and  more  appreciative — readers  among  Pro- 
testants, in  recent  years  at  least,  than  among 
Romanists.  Madame  Guy  on  has  had  far 
greater  favor  and  influence  among  Calvinists 
than  among  the  members  of  her  own  household 
of  faith.  The  Spiritual  Guide  of  Molinos  has 
been  a  formative  influence  in  the  Society  of 
Friends.  The  most  appreciative  histories  of 
mysticism  have  been  written  by  Protestants.^ 
Indeed,  Protestantism  has  as  close  if  not 
closer  aflfiliations  with  mysticism  than  Roman 
Catholicism,  provided  mysticism  is  taken  in 
a  broad  enough  sense.  One  has  but  to  glance 
backward  to  realize  this. 

^  Miss  Underhill's  books,  especially  her  "Mysticism,"  dedicated  "In 
Honor  em  Omnium  Animarum  Mysticarum,"  offer  an  outstanding  instance 
of  Protestant  appreciation  of  Roman  Catholic  mystics. 


226      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

IV 

The  rise  of  the  Reformation,  for  example, 
may  be  traced  intellectually  to  the  Renais- 
sance, spiritually  to  mysticism.  The  revival  of 
learning,  through  the  influence  of  such  scholars 
as  Erasmus,  Reuchlin,  and  Melanchthon,  pre- 
pared the  way  for  intellectual  freedom.  The 
renewal  of  piety,  through  naen  of  such  purity 
of  vision  and  devotion  as  Peter  Waldo,  Wick- 
liffe,  and  Luther,  prepared  the  way  for  spiritual 
freedom.  Not  that  the  two  impulses  were 
separate  or  divorced.  On  the  contrary,  the 
striking  fact  is  their  remarkable  harmony  in 
the  earlier  period.  There  is  much  of  the  mystic, 
as  well  as  much  of  the  scholar,  in  most  of  the 
great  reformers  and  their  precursors.  Wick- 
liffe,  for  example,  together  with  his  love  of 
learning  and  hatred  of  imposture,  had  in  him 
a  pure  and  joyous  mystical  vein.  The  secret 
of  the  serenity  with  which  he  faced  church  and 
state  undaunted  is  disclosed  in  such  words  as 
these : 

Contemplative  life  hath  two  parts;  the  lower 
consists  in  meditation,  or  thinking  of  holy 
scripture,  and  in  other  sweet  thoughts  of  Jesus, 
and  in  sweetness  of  prayers.  The  higher  part 
is  in  beholding  of  heavenly  things,  having  the 
eye  of  the  heart  among  the  heavenly  citizens, 
thinking  on  God,  the  beauty  of  angels,  and  holy 


THE  MODERN  CHURCH  227 

souls.  Contemplation  is  a  wonderful  joy  in 
God's  love,  which  joy  is  a  loving  of  God  that 
cannot  be  told.  And  that  wonderful  love  is  in 
the  soul  and  for  abundance  of  joy  and  sweetness 
it  ascends  into  the  mouth;  so  that  heart,  tongue, 
body,  and  soul,  joy  together  in  God.^** 

How  this  harmony  of  the  rational  and  the 
mystical,  the  intellectual  and  the  spiritual, 
which  characterized  the  beginnings  of  the 
Reformation,  was  displaced  by  schism,  mani- 
festing itself  in  the  Anabaptist  controversy 
and  the  rise  of  the  sects,  rending  the  inner  life 
of  Luther  himself,  and  ending  in  the  barren 
Scholasticism  of  Protestant  theology,  is  a  sorry 
and  familiar  story.  Protestant  fanaticism  and 
Protestant  Scholasticism  were  the  bitter  ex- 
tremes reflecting  the  schism  in  religious  life 
following  the  Reformation. 

To  restore  the  broken  harmony  between  the 
rational  and  the  spiritual,  to  make  theology 
once  more  vital,  and  to  furnish  a  rational  basis 
for  piety,  was  a  task  which  Protestantism  was 
slow  in  taking  up  and  which  it  has  not  even 
yet  fully  accomplished.  Melanchthon  felt 
deeply  the  need  of  harmonizing  doctrine  and 
piety,  and  did  much  to  keep  the  two  from 
disruption;    but    he    was    too    far    under    the 


»•  Of  Active  Life  and  Contemplative  Life. 


228     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

domination  of  Scholasticism  to  create  a  spir- 
itual theology.  Calvin,  with  all  his  noble 
service  to  righteousness,  was  too  much  of  a 
legalist,  scripturalist,  and  dogmatist.  Thus  both 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  theology  proceeded  in 
the  direction  of  formalism  and  orthodoxism  and 
became  more  and  more  estranged  from  the  mind 
of  the  Spirit. 

Yet  the  fire  of  mystical  devotion  was  never 
expelled  from  Protestant  thought,  any  more 
than  from  Protestant  piety.  It  survived  in 
such  men  as  Caspar  Schwenkfeld,  Sebastian 
Frank,  and  Valentine  Weigel,  searched  the 
deeps  of  thought  and  piety  in  Jacob  Boehme 
and  William  Law,  and  at  length  burst  forth  in 
surprising  wealth  in  the  great  Wesleyan  move- 
ment. The  truth  has  never  yet  been  rightly 
sifted  from  the  error  in  the  doctrines  of  the 
persecuted  Protestant  mystics,  nor  in  such 
ill-understood  sects  as  the  Mennonites,  Schwenk- 
feldtians,  and  others  in  Europe  and  in  Penn- 
sylvania. There  are  not  wanting  indications 
that  there  is  about  to  occur  a  revision  and 
reestimate  of  the  period  following  the  Refor- 
mation. A  more  careful  discrimination  will 
undoubtedly  disclose  among  those  valiant  here- 
tics hitherto  too  carelessly  lumped  together 
as  "Anabaptists" — men  like  Hans  Denck,  Felix 
Manz,    and    Simon    Menno — many    who    are 


.THE  MODERN  CHURCH  229 

deserving  of  greater  honor  as  heralds  and 
defenders  of  true  faith  and  freedom  than  they 
have  ever  received.  ^^ 


That  which  is  common  to  both  Catholics 
and  Protestants  is  every  day  enlarging,  as  the 
study  of  mysticism  progresses.  Eckhart  and 
Boehme  had  much  in  common;  so  had  the 
Friends  of  God  and  the  Pietists,  the  Waldenses 
and  the  Wesleyans,  the  Quietists  and  the 
Quakers.  Catholicism  and  Protestantism  may 
have  little  in  common,  but  Catholics  and  Pro- 
testants have  much.  Professor  Loofs  has  but 
lately  pointed  out  the  real  kinship  between  the 
sola  fide  (salvation  by  faith  alone)  of  Pro- 
testantism and  the  piety  of  such  mystics  as 
Saint  Francis,  and  concludes: 

Not  to  the  dogmatics  but  to  the  piety  of  both 
camps  must  we  look  if  we  would  measure  how 
far-reaching  is  the  possibility  of  mutual  under- 
standing. And  here  there  has  long  been  evidence 
that  true  Protestant  piety,  resting  upon  sola 
iide^  can  feel  at  home  in  high-thinking  Catholic 
piety.    The  converse  has  also  happened. ^^ 


"  See  in  this  connection,  Professor  R.  M.  Jones,  Spiritual  Reformers  of 
the  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuries;  also  chapter  ix  in  Kuhn's  The 
Sense  of  the  Infinite. 

«  The  Constructive  Quarterly,  vol.  1,  1,  p.  47.  It  would  be  difl&cult  to 
overestimate  the  value  of  this  Quarterly  in  promoting  mutual  understand- 
ing among  all  sects  and  denominations. 


230      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

If  Saint  Francis  was  almost  as  much  of  a 
Protestant  as  a  Catholic,  Tersteegen  (to  select 
one  of  many)  was  almost  as  much  of  a  Catholic 
as  a  Protestant. 

The  great  defect  of  Roman  Catholicism  from 
j  the  standpoint  of  mysticism  is  that  it  fails  to 
call  out  and  cultivate  individual  religious 
experience.  It  does  not  foster  the  Christian 
freedom  characteristic  of  the  New  Testament. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  does  cultivate  that  com- 
mon religious  instinct,  that  social  type  of  mys- 
ticism, which  is  so  germane  to  the  mystical 
experience,  although  in  doing  so  it  has  resorted 
to  questionable  and  sometimes  vitiating  meth- 
ods. 

Protestants  cannot  possibly  overlook  the 
superstition  of  the  mass,  which  even  its  mystic 
symbolism  cannot  offset,  or  the  utter  incon- 
gruity between  the  papacy  and  Christianity. 
But  neither  should  we  forget  the  common 
bond  of  origin  and  of  devotion  to  one  Lord, 
and  the  possession  of  great  essential  doctrines 
in  common.  Above  all,  we  have  a  common 
Christian  experience.  Faith  and  truth  and 
love  are  universal  in  nature  and  speak  one 
language.  That  which  Whittier  said  of  Quak- 
erism might  well  be  said  of  mysticism:  "It 
has  no  church  of  its  own;  it  belongs  to  the 
church     universal     and    invisible."    Many    a 


THE  MODERN  CHUKCH  231 

reader  of  the  Imitation  does  not  know  whether 
the  author  was  Roman  CathoHc  or  Protes- 
tant. Indeed,  in  Christian  mysticism,  as  such, 
there  is  neither  Romanist  nor  Protestant, 
orthodox  nor  liberal,  but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all. 


CHAPTER  XI 
MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  SOCIETY 

For  mysticism  to  mold  modern  life  it  must 
itself  be  of  a  very  generous  mold.  It  should  be 
able  not  only  to  domicile  and  function  amid  the 
ideas  and  activities  of  advancing  civilization, 
but  to  transform  and  exalt  them.  While  this 
requires  variation  in  the  form  of  mysticism,  it 
does  not  necessarily  involve  change  in  its  heart 
and  spirit.  It  means  new  wine  in  new  bottles, 
but  wine  still.  The  old  order  has  passed, 
giving  place  to  new.  Through  the  spirit  and 
application  of  science  has  come  a  larger  under- 
standing and  use  of  life;  and  this  enlargement 
will  doubtless  continue. 

The  mystics  of  the  past  were  more  or  less 
apart  from  the  "secular"  life  of  their  time, 
either  scorning  it,  or  rebuking  it,  or  ignoring  it. 
The  modern  mystic  is  in  far  closer  touch  with 
the  life  about  him.  He  cannot  renounce  it 
without  renouncing  genuine  spiritual  values. 
The  semi-Christian  character  of  modern  civil- 
ization constitutes  at  once  his  opportunity  and 
his  danger,  his  advantage  and  his  problem.  He 
232 


MODERN  SOCIETY 


233 


is  called  upon  to  exercise  careful  and  const^t^ 
discrimination.  A  time  like  our  own,  which  is 
cliaracterized  at  once  by  philosophical  idealism 
^^d  practical  materialism,  a  great  altruistic 
§pcial  awakening  and  a  strong  tide  of  Anarchistic 
syndicalism,  an  unprecedented  advance  toward 
world  peace  followed  by  a  fearful  outbreak  of 
war,  a  deep  demand  for  social  purity  and  a 
widespread  mania  of  sexualism,  a  universal 
deepening  of  the  Christ  spirit  and  a  universa 
turning  away  from  the  church — such  an  ag; 
calls  neither  for  wholesale  condemnation  no 
for  uncritical  confidence,  but  for  the  spiritua 
man  "who  judgeth  all  things." 


One  thing  seems  certain  with  reference  to 
the  mysticism  of  the  past.  It  is  that,  while  we 
must  recognize,  on  the  one  hand,  its  distance 
and  disparity  from  our  civilization,  on  the  other 
hand  we  cannot  afford  to  ignore  our  spiritual 
heritage  in  it.  Unless  we  turn  back  often, 
with  reverence  and  teachableness,  to  the  saints 
of  the  ages,  we  shall  detach  ourselves  from  our 
spiritual  kin  and  leave  unused  a  great  fund  of 
inspiration  and  refreshment. 

One  comes  from  fellowship  with  the  great 
mystics  in  somewhat  of  the  frame  of  mind  in 
which  he  returns  from  a  mountain  climb.    He 


234      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

has  breathed  a  purer  air  and  caught  a  wider 
vision.  It  may  be  that  he  has  no  desire  to 
live  upon  these  heights;  the  air  is  almost  too 
rare,  the  sublimity  too  great,  the  majesty  too 
overwhelming.  Yet  he  brings  something  of 
their  loftiness  of  spirit  away  with  him  and  is 
as  one  who  has  been  a  guest  of  the  immortals. 

We  are  too  unaspiring,  the  mystics  teach  us, 
too  easily  satisfied.  There  are  splendors  await- 
ing and  heights  unreached  and  we  stay  in  the 
taverns  and  lounging  places  of  life  and  are 
content.  These  "Pilgrims  of  the  Lonely  Road"^ 
have  heard  the  call  of  the  heights  and  obeyed. 
They  have  not  been  disobedient  to  the  heavenly 
vision. 

Companionship  with  these  saints  of  the  ages 
is  sacramental.  One  can  hardly  acquaint  him- 
self with  their  lives  without  being  ready  to 
exclaim,  with  Thomas  k  Kempis: 

What  pure  and  upright  intentions  kept  they 
toward  God!  They  spent  all  their  time  with 
profit,  every  hour  seemed  but  short  for  the 
service  of  God.  And  by  reason  of  the  greaCt 
sweetness  they  felt  in  contemplation,  they 
forgot  the  necessity  of  refreshment  for  the 
body.  .  .  .  Outwardly  they  were  destitute, 
but  inwardly  they  were  refreshed  with  grace 


1  The  title  of  a  fascinating  volume  of  studies  of  mystics  by  Rev.  G.  Glenn 
Atkins,  D.D. 


MODERN  SOCIETY  235 

and  divine  consolation.  They  were  strangers 
to  the  world  but  near  and  familiar  friends  to 
God.  .  .  .  They  were  grounded  in  true  humil- 
ity, they  lived  in  simple  obedience,  they  walked 
in  love  and  patience;  and  therefore  they  grew 
daily  in  the  Spirit,  and  obtained  great  grace 
in  God's  sight.  They  were  given  for  an  example 
to  all  religious  persons.  Their  footsteps  yet 
remaining  testify  they  were  indeed  holy  and 
perfect  men;  who  fighting  so  valiantly  trod  the 
world  under  their  feet.^ 

The  author  of  the  Imitation  writes  as  if  the 
mystics  (or,  as  he  calls  them,  the  saints)  were 
all  behind  him;  and  yet,  from  our  point  of  view, 
he  himself  was  one  of  the  inner  circle;  and  the 
succession  has  gone  on  unfailingly  to  the 
present  day.  It  is  impossible,  that  is,  to  write 
a  history  of  mysticism  as  of  a  movement  that 
has  closed,  because  the  mystics  are  a  priest- 
hood after  the  order  of  Melchisedec,  having 
neither  beginning  of  days  nor  end  of  life.  One 
may  write  of  groups  or  types  of  mystics  in  the 
past  tense,  but  not  thus  of  mysticism  itself; 
for  it  lives  to-day  and  will,  as  long  as  religion 
lives. 

Mysticism  has  in  it  a  certain  timelessnessy 
a  habit  and  disposition  of  mind  which  belongs  ^ 
to  man  as  man  when  he  has  reached  a  certain 


>  Imitation,  xviii. 


236      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

stage  of  spiritual  progress,  a  spirit  which  links 
the  nations  and  generations  in  a  single  brother- 
hood, which  makes  Plato  and  Moses,  Jesus  and 
Saint  Francis,  Dante  and  Francis  Thompson, 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux  and  Phillips  Brooks,  the 
author  of  the  Bhagavadgita  and  Emerson, 
Joan  of  Arc  and  Frances  Willard,  akin.  The 
mystical  mind  in  every  age,  in  spite  of  temper- 
amental, individual  and  environmental  differ- 
ences, is  essentially  one.  (And  yet  each  age  and 
each  individual  must  work  out  its  own  sal- 
vation, and  our  age  is  in  need  of  a  mysticism 
consonant  with  its  own  peculiar  aspirations . 
and  visions.  It  must  be  no  longer  remote  and 
world-renouncing . 

II 

It  would  contradict  much  of  what  has  gone 
before  to  say  that  in  his  world-scorning,  self- 
repressive,  self-denying  devotion  the  mystic  of 
the  past  failed  entirely  of  realizing  and  enjoying 
the  best  things  of  life.  On  the  contrary,  he 
entered  into  many  of  its  largest  and  deepest 
satisfactions.  His  eyes  were  unsealed  to  nature, 
and  he  often  became,  half  unconsciously,  a 
nature  lover  and  a  poet.  Love  and  compassion 
toward  his  fellow  man  grew  up  in  his  heart, 
and  he  entered  into  the  joy  of  service  as  well 
as  of  comradeship.     The  common  tasks  of  life 


MODERN  SOCIETY  237 

were  lightened  for  him  by  the  spirit  of  love 
and  self-abnegation  which  filled  his  soul.  He 
knew  the  secret  of  banishing  meanness  and 
drudgery  from  life.  And  along  with  these, 
the  mystic  banished  a  still  greater  human 
enemy,  fear.  The  mystic  is  the  Siegfried  who 
has  slain  the  dragon  Fear.  He  is  released  from 
this  ancient  enemy.  Abiding  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Almighty,  he  fears  no  evil.  In  the 
quaint  verse  of  Crashaw,  he  may  address  the 
earthbound  and  fearful : 

There  is  no  storme  but  this 

Of  your  owne  Cowardise 

That  braves  you  out; 

You  are  the  storme  that  mocks 

Yourselves,  you  are  the  rocks 

Of  your  owne  doubt; 

Besides  this  feare  of  danger,  ther*s  no 

danger  here; 
And  he  that  here  fears  danger,  does 

deserve  his  fears.^ 

And  not  only  has  mysticism  done  much  to 
save  life  from  fear  and  sordidness,  it  has 
brought  out  and  fostered  many  of  Time's 
sweetest  and  choicest  flavors. 

Ill 

It  would  be  interesting  and  revealing  if  some 


»  Quoted  by  Bishop  Brent:   The  Sixth  Sense,  p.  82. 


238     MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

one  would  make  a  study  of  the  place  of  humor 
in  mysticism.  If  the  facts  were  only  available, 
it  would  not  be  surprising  to  find  that  much 
of  the  most  delicate,  playful  and  high-hearted 
humor  that  has  issued  from  the  heart  of 
humanity  has  come  from  the  mystical  mind  in 
its  gayer  moods.  For  the  mystics  could  be 
gay.  Did  not  Saint  Francis  and  his  com- 
>/  panions  call  themselves  God's  jongleurs?  Only 
the  mind  that  is  secure  and  far  from  fear  can 
give  itself  over  to  unreserved  playfulness.  The 
child  may  romp  and  riot  most  when  out  of  the 
mother's  sight,  but  it  is  in  the  play  that  he  has 
at  her  side  and  under  her  smile  that  he  is  freest 
and  sunniest.  The  fevered  chaotic  mirth  of  he- 
donism,— let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we 
die — the  self-abandonment  of  unfaith,  the  mys- 
tic dreads  and  shuns;  but  of  the  humor  that 
takes  every  misfortune  lightly  and  finds  food 
for  jest  where  the  stolid  practicalist  sees  only 
solemn  hopelessness  and  an  end  of  all  his 
schemes,  of  that  there  is  much  in  mysticism — 
another  evidence  of  its  normality. 

It  is  true  that  there  is  very  little  in  mystical 
literature  that  reminds  one  of  Punch,  or 
Fliegende-Blatter,  or  Life;  but  one  has  the 
feeling  that  if  more  than  one  mystic,  who  might 
be  named,  had  chosen  to  turn  his  hand  to 
that  sort  of  thing,  he  could  have  done  at  least 


MODERN  SOCIETY  239 

as  well.  As  it  was,  he  felt  that  he  had  some- 
thing more  essential  on  hand.  Yet  if  a  flash 
of  righteous  irony  breaks  into  a  high  message 
here  and  there,  as  in  Isaiah,  Plato,  or  Dante; 
or  a  quaint  phrase  adds  piquancy  to  the  mean- 
ing of  a  line  of  Donne  or  Herbert  or  a  sentence 
of  Jeremy  Taylor;  or  a  love- winged  arrow  of 
sarcasm  speeds  to  its  mark  in  an  allegory  of 
Bunyan;  or  a  lambent  flame  of  kindly  humor 
plays  about  a  sermon  of  Eckhart,  or  a  comment 
of  Juliana  of  Norwich,  or  a  poem  of  Browning, 
it  is  all  in  the  day's  work — the  natural  out- 
croppings  of  souls  in  love  with  God  and  man. 
Such  mystic  humor  often  lies  very  close  to  the 
most  serious  and  high-hearted  devotion  to  a 
great  cause.  One  might  not  go  far  astray  in 
listing  Lincoln  among  the  mystics — humor 
included.  Life  is  never  cheap  to  the  mystic,  \J 
except  in  comparison  with  eternal  life.  No  one 
but  a  mystic  or  a  hardened  criminal  could 
have  hailed  his  headsman  as  lightly  as  did  Sir 
Thomas  More  on  the  day  of  his  execution. 
If  any  man  of  his  time  knew  how  to  make  the 
most  of  life  it  was  the  author  of  Utopia;  yet 
he  could  lay  it  down  with  an  easy  pleasantry, 
for  "he  knew  Whom  he  had  believed." 

On  the  whole,  with  all  their  renunciations 
and  austerities,  one  will  look  long  before  he 
finds  a  company  of  men  and  women  who  have 


240      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

gotten  so  near  to  the  heart  of  life  as  the  mystics. 
If  they  have  brushed  aside  its  outer  petals 
somewhat  roughly,  it  is  only  that  they  might 
get  straight  to  its  heart  where  is  the  hidden 
honey.  Losing  life  for  His  sake,  they  have  found 
it  again.  Through  self-denial  they  have  became 
masters  of  the  art  of  true  living.  Such  mastery 
of  life  and  all  its  conditions  is  the  only  thing 
that  will  permanently  satisfy  the  human  soul, 
with  its  insatiable  urge  toward  perfection.  And 
yet  theirs  was  too  much  a  mastery  by  renuncia- 
tion, not  by  appropriation.  Their  enjoyments 
came  to  them  almost  in  spite  of  themselves, 
for  they  did  not  fully  perceive  that  "the  earth 
is  the  Lord's  and  the  fullness  thereof." 

It  is  this  limitation  which,  as  I  have  tried  to 
show,  should  be  left  behind  in  the  cultivation 
of  a  mysticism  neither  excessive  nor  repressive. 
It  were  well  for  us  to  be  altogether  such  as 
they,  yet  "without  these  bonds." 

IV 

It  is  a  very  general  assumption  that  mys- 
ticism is  inherently  and  exclusively  individual- 
istic, and  therefore  ill-adapted  to  social  wel- 
fare. It  is  here,  probably,  that  the  largest 
question  mark  confronts  mysticism.  To  this 
question  let  us  again  address  ourselves  briefly 
in  closing. 


MODERN  SOCIETY  241 

Two  apparently  alien  volumes  have  by 
chance  been  standing  amicably  side  by  side 
upon  one  of  my  book  shelves  during  this 
study — Eckhart's  Mystiche  Schriften,  and  RatT 
schenbusch's  Christianizing  the  Social  Order. 
Can  the  objects  and  aims  represented  by  these 
two  volumes  really  go  together,  not  only  in  / 
books  but  in  life?  Many  would  answer  "No."  [ 
But  would  it  be  the  right  answer,  the  well- 
considered  and  final  answer? 

It  is  true  enough  that  the  forces  and  motives 
that  make  for  social  progress  are  some  of 
them  very  unmystical  and  matter-of-fact.  One 
of  the  two  leading  motives  that  have  furthered 
democracy  is,  as  we  have  seen,  quite  non- 
mystical — the  assertion  of  individual  rights, 
the  struggle  for  material  betterment.*  Scien- 
tific investigation  of  the  conditions  under  which 
men  and  women  live  and  scientific  knowledge 
of  the  means  by  which  those  conditions  can 
be  remedied  have  also  played  a  large  part. 
Still  more  potent  have  been  the  "rise  of  the 
masses"  and  the  organization  of  labor.  This 
movement  has  flourished  largely  upon  material 
and  self -regarding  aims.  Socialism,  notwith- 
standing that  it  has  so  much  not  only  of  justice 
but  of  class  altruism  and  even  of  idealism  in  it, 
is  steeped  in  economic  materialism.     As  such 

*  See  Part  U,  Chapter  i. 


242      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

it  is  abnormal,  for  it  puts  that  first  which 
should  be  second.  The  socialist  state,  if  it 
should  ever  be  realized  as  at  present  preached 
by  the  main  body  of  Socialists,  would  be  non- 
spiritual,  nonreligious,  and  so  far  nonhuman. 
It  would  be  that  "ghastly,  smooth  life,  dead  at 
heart,"  which  is  the  bane  of  so  many  victims 
of  prosperity.  For  the  SociaHst  as  well  as  the 
capitalist,  for  all  of  us  in  fact,  Tolstoy's  Message 
to  Mankind  is  a  word  to  be  received  with  deep 
respect. 

Nevertheless,  when  all  the  purely  economic 
factors  in  social  progress,  and  those  of  self- 
interest  as  well,  have  been  given  full  recogni- 
tion, it  is  still  true  that  in  its  main  impulse  and 
ideal  the  social  and  industrial  awakening  of 
our  time  is  religious,  mystical,  Christian.>>  It 
["springs  from  that  other  and  greater  force  in 
bringing  in  the  new  Social  Order,  altruism; 
and  altruism  is  rooted  in  myr^icism.  It  is  true 
that  mysticism  cares  less  for  material  good 
than  for  spiritual,  less  for  institutions  than  for 
individuals,  less  for  reformations  than  for  con- 


»  "Mysticism  may  be  said  to  express  the  inmost  core  of  religion,  because, 
in  its  insistence  upon  the  'nearness'  of  God  and  the  fatherhood  of  God,  it, 
ipso  facto,  conveys  the  sterling  truth  of  the  'nearness'  of  man  to  man; 
in  other  words,  the  brotherhood  of  all  men.  It  is  thus  the  greatest  incentive 
to  works  of  altruism,  to  self-sacrifice  on  the  noblest  scale.  The  true  mystic 
can  never  be  a  self-centered  individual.  He  must  recognize  the  image  of 
God  in  every  fallen  brother"  (J.  Abelson,  "Mysticism  and  Rabbinical 
Literature,"  BKbbert  Journal,  vol.  x,  2,  p.  429). 


MODERN  SOCIETY  243 

versions.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  neces- 
sarily indifferent  to  social  and  institutional 
agencies.  The  very  fact  that  the  mystic  seeks 
spiritual  values  may  well  make  him  eager  to 
remedy  all  material  conditions  that  stand  in 
the  way  of  the  soul.  His  desire  for  the  highest 
good  of  others  leads  him  to  befriend  any  means 
that  will  promote  it.     He  is  enlisted  in  behalf  I 


s  al 


of  civilization,  though  not  as  an  end  but  as  ~ ' 
means.  If  the  storming  of  the  Bastile  was  "a 
landmark  in  the  coming  of  the  new  social  order, 
so  also  was  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipa- 
tion. 

If  democracy  has  come  in  by  the  assertion 
of  rights,  it  has  come  in  also,  as  Benjamin 
Eadd  has  shown,  by  the  conferring  of  rights. 
If  it  has  come  in  by  battle,  it  has  come  in  also 
by  prayer.  If  industrial  liberty  has  been  won 
chiefly  by  the  strike,  it  has  been  won  also  by 
public  sympath^or  the  striker. 

As  the  altruistic  motive  and  ideal  have 
played  so  large  a  part  in  bringing  the  new 
social  order  thus  far  on  its  way  they  will  surely 
play  a  still  larger  part  in  the  future.  In  a 
striking  paper,  "Democracy  a  New  Unfolding 
of  Human  Power,"  Robert  A.  Woods,  of  the 
South  End  House,  Boston,  one  of  the  pioneers 
in  this  country  in  social  settlement  work,  has 
written: 


244      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

Perhaps  the  surest  ground  of  confidence 
that  humanity  is  actually  passing  into  this 
further  stage  of  progress  is  found  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  growing  and  spreading  moral  dynamic 
which  is  essentially  new  as  a  social  phenomenon. 
There  is,  in  fact,  in  the  movement  toward  social 
democracy  a  peculiar  sense  of  mystic  power. 
It  brings  to  the  ordinary  man  that  strange 
reassurance  of  the  larger  life  which  comes  of 
itself  through  channels  of  loyalty.  There  is  that 
scattereth  and  yet  increaseth.  A  large  intensity 
of  service  and  cooperation  goes  into  every  one 
of  the  bewildering  maze  of  human  groupings, 
and  is  followed  by  a  great  recompense.* 

/^   There  is  a  social  mysticism,  as  well  as  an 
/    individual  mysticism,  which  is  carrying  us  on, 
with  nameless  might,   into  the  larger  human 
\     life.    It  is  grounded  in  that  which  is  the  heart 
\  and  soul  of  mysticism, — love.     Do  despite  to 
^  love  as  we  may,  it  will  gradually  mold  humanity 
into  its  own  image.     As  that  valiant  mystic, 
William  Penn,  wrote,  in  Some  Fruits  of  Solitude: 
"Love  is  above  all,  and  when  it  prevails  in  us 
all  we  shall  all  be  lovely  and  in  love  with  God 
and  one  another."     This  social  mysticism  is 
also    personal.      The    social    consciousness    is 
not   something  impersonal,  sui  generis — mass- 
generated — but  is  made  up  of  individual  con- 

•  Page  97. 


MODERN  SOCIETY  245 

sciousnesses,  however  different  the  composite 
consciousness  may  seem  to  be  from  the  aggre- 
gate of  the  individuals  composing  it.  There 
is  mysticism  in  aggregates  of  men  as  well  as 
in  individuals.  The  power  of  the  Spirit  is 
silently  at  work  in  concerted,  as  well  as  indi- 
vidual, convictions  and  advancements.  The 
peace  movement,  for  example,  while  it  has  its 
economic  and  social,  as  well  as  humanitarian 
motives,  is  at  bottom  spiritual  as  well  as 
ethical,  and  roots  in  that  love  of  man  which  is 
the  obverse  of  the  love  of  God. 

V 

Let  us  cease  to  look  upon  mysticism  as 
essentially  abnormal  in  nature  or  as  past.  It 
has  had  a  noble  history.  Yet  it  belongs  to  the 
present  and  the  future  also.  The  potencies  of 
mystical  religion  as  it  deepens  and  broadens, 
both  for  the  individual  and  the  race,  are  bound- 
less. The  "traflSc  of  Jacob's  ladder"  rises  "be- 
tween Heaven  and  Charing  Cross."  All  the 
relations  of  life  are  capable  of  spiritual 
values. 

A  deeper  sense  of  the  reality  and  scope  of 
spiritual  verities  is  surging  in  upon  us,  as  the 
limitations  of  science  are  more  clearly  recog- 
nized. Scientific  finalities  are  following  theo- 
logical dogmatisms  and  smug  conventionalities 


246      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

into  limbo.  We  are  climbing  out  of  the  valley, 
and  the  horizon  broadens.  So  far  from  leading 
back  to  ancient  mists  and  shades,  the  mystical 
pathway  is  the  line  of  advance  into  a  larger 
fulfillment  of  the  possibilities  of  the  world 
within  through  which  the  world  without  gets 
its  meaning. 

"The  quest  after  the  ultimate  meaning  of 
this  mysterious  life  of  ours  revives  on  every 
hand."  It  may  seem  for  the  present  as  if  this 
quest  were  a  forlorn  hope  amid  the  brutality 
of  an  apparently  wholly  materialistic  age.  But 
in  quietness  and  confidence  is  strength.  The 
powers  of  an  Invincible  Order  are  with  love  and 
over  it.  The  future  is  theirs  who  follow  the 
Gleam.  For  that  mystic  Gleam,  like  the 
mystic  Rock,  is  Christ. 

In  the  quenchless  light  of  the  mystic  vision, 
by  the  power  of  that  Spirit  which  was  in  the 
beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall  be — incarnated 
in  the  Redemptive  Christ — humanity  will  not 
fail  of  its  Divine  Goal,  a  conviction  nobly 
voiced  in  words  put  into  the  mouth  of  a 
shadowy  mediaeval  mystic  by  one  of  the  sun- 
niest and  sanest  of  modern  mystics: 

For  these  things  tend  still  upward,  progress  is 
The  law  of  life,  man  is  not  Man  as  yet. 
Nor  shall  I  deem  his  object  served,  his  end 


MODERN  SOCIETY  247  . 

Attained,  his  genuine  strength  put  fairly  forth, 
While  only  here  and  there  a  star  dispels 
The  darkness,  here  and  there  a  towering  mind 
O'erlooks  its  prostrate  fellows;  when  the  host 
Is  out  at  once  to  the  despair  of  night, 
When  all  mankind  alike  is  perfected. 
Equal  in  full-blown  powers — then,  not  till  then, 
I  say,  begins  man's  general  infancy. 
.     .     .     So  in  man's  self  arise 
August  anticipations,  symbols,  types 
Of  a  dim  splendor  ever  on  before 
In  that  eternal  circle  life  pursues. 
For  men  begin  to  pass  their  nature's  bound. 
And  find  new  hopes  and  cares  which  fast  supplant 
Their  proper  joys  and  griefs;  they  grow  too  great 
For  narrow  creeds  of  right  and  wrong,  which  fade 
Before  the  unmeasured  thirst  for  good;  while  peace 
Rises  within  them  ever  more  and  more. 
Such  men  are  even  now  upon  the  earth. 
Serene  amid  the  half -formed  creatures  round 
Who  should  be  saved  by  them  and  joined  with 
them.^ 

In  conclusion,  let  me  add  a  word  as  to  the 
relation  of  mysticism  to  Christianity.  Normal 
mysticism  merges  into  Christianity,  as  a  river 
into  the  sea,  and  both  loses  and  finds  itself  in 
the  larger  truth.  As  R.  C.  Moberly  has  finely 
said:  "All  Christians  profess  belief  in  the  J 
Holy  Ghost.     Had  only  all  Christians  under- 


'  Browning:  Paracelaue. 


248      MYSTICISM  AND  MODERN  LIFE 

stood  and  lived  up  to  their  belief,  they  would 
all  have  been  mystics;  or,  in  other  words,  there 
would  have  been  no  'mysticism.'  "^ 

All  studies  of  religion,  including  that  of 
mysticism,  lead  to  a  fresh  realization  of  the 
depth,  the  comprehensiveness,  and  the  finality 
of  Christianity,  as  it  opens  ever  greater  reaches 
and  depths  of  human  experience  and  reveals 
its  exhaustless  capacity  for  human  needs  and 
human  progress.  Instead  of  Christianity  being 
a  form  of  mysticism,  normal  mysticism  is  an 
element  of  Christianity. 

What  we  need,  then,  is  not  so  much  a  new 
mysticism,  as  a  larger  realization  of  the  mystical 
element  in  religion  as  it  culminates  in  Chris- 
tianity. 

8  Atonement  and  Personality,  p.  316. 


Grant  us  grace  to  rest  from  all  sinful  deeds 
and  thoughts,  to  surrender  ourselves  wholly 
unto  Thee,  and  to  keep  our  souls  still  before 
Thee  like  a  still  lake;  that  so  the  beams  of 
Thy  grace  may  be  mirrored  therein,  and  may 
kindle  in  our  hearts  the  glow  of  faith  and  love 
and  prayer.  May  we,  through  such  stillness 
and  hope,  find  strength  and  gladness  in  Thee, 
O  GOD,  now  and  forever  more.    Amen. 

— Joachim  Emhden, 


INDEX 


Abelson,  J.,  242n. 

Absolute,  62,  64 

Absolutism,  22 

Adams,  George  P.,  119n. 

Ainslee,  Peter,  224 

Albee,  Helen,  39 

Alfred,  112 

Altruism,  242 

Ames,  E.  S.,  215 

Amiel,  187,  203 

Anabaptist,  227 

Angelus  Silesius,  108,  171, 177 

Anthony,  162 

Antinomianism,  109 

Arnold,  Matthew,  187 

Asceticism,  41,  42,  56,  57,  58, 

60 
Atkins,  G.  G.,  234n. 
Augustine,    15,   30,   67,    106, 

130,  131,  152,  161,  171,  178, 

196 
Autosuggestion,  147,  148 
Awakening,  29,  30,  36 

B 

Beethoven,  146 
Being  (vs.  Doing),  186 
Bergson,  23,  128,  156 
Bernard,  154,  236 
Bhagavad  Gita,  30,  236 


Bible,  38,  102,  222 
Bigelow,  John,  38,  39 
Blood,  B.  P..  180n. 
Boehme,  32,  79,  82,  136,  157, 

175,  177,  190,  229 
Bonaventura,  111 
Boutroux,  24,  136,  145,  163 
Brainerd,  David,  155 
Brent,  Bishop,  87n.,  147,  223 
Brooks,  Phillips,  152,  236 
Brown,  Thomas,  199n. 
Browning,  201,  239,  247 
Browning,  Mrs.,  202 
Bryant,  205 
Bucke,  Dr.,  40,  77,  79,  81,  82, 

156 
Buckham,  M.  H.,  154n. 
Bunyan,  183,  199,  239 
Burton,  N.,  214 
Bushnell,  214 


Caird,  E.,  14 

Calvin.  130,  228 

Carlstadt,  101 

Carlyle,  201 

Catherine  of  Genoa,  31,  36, 

53,  110,  157 
Catherine  of  Siena,  30,  112, 

162 
Chalmers,  69 


251 


252 


INDEX 


Chesterton,  20,  184 
Christianity,  115,  117,  222f., 

248 
Christian  Science,  63,  65,  66, 

70 
Church,  101,  209f. 
Church  Music,  214 
Clara,  154 
Coe,  122,  136 

Coleridge,  52,  98,  124,  200 
Cosmic  Consciousness,  81,  82, 

83 
Crashaw,  237 

D 

Dante,  30,  53,  79,  101,  187, 

197,  225,  236,  239 
Deissmann,  209n. 
Democracy,    114,    115,    241, 

243 
Denck,  228 
Dialectic,  127,  128 
Dickens,  205 
Dionysius,  62,  66,   107,   151, 

175 
Disasters,  46f. 
Discipline,  41f. 
DobschUtz,  Von,  102n. 
Doddridge,  200 
Dogmatism,  71 
Donne,  239 
Dresser,  H.  W.,  93 
DUhm,  93 

E 

Eckhart,   62,    103,   107,   175, 

190,  229,  239,  241 
Ecstasy,  35,  36,  51 


Eddy,  Mrs.,  62 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  82,  152, 

193 
Emerson,  151,  177,  180,  204, 

210,  236 
Erigena,  62,  151,  175 
Eternal,  70,  175f. 
Eucken,  23 
Evil,  107f. 
Experience,  16,  118,  119,  154, 

162,  166,  222,  230 


F^nelon,  171,  202 

Ferrando,  G.,  22n. 

Fichte,  119,  203 

Finney,  Charles  G.,  52,  79 

Fleming,  W.  K.,  52,  199n. 

Fourth  Gospel,  196 

Fox,  George,  38,  67,  199 

Era  Angelico,  162 

Francis  of  Assisi,  30,  67,  81, 
152,  154,  157,  162,  183, 
197,  229,  230,  236,  238 

Francis  of  Sales,  154 

Frank,  228 

Friends,  225 

Friends  of  God,  82,  157,  192, 
229 


Gautama,  77,  79 

Goethe,  15,  75,  203 

God.  15,  18,  46,  51,  75,  117, 
126,  132,  137,  142,  143, 
149,  152,  153,  159,  173, 
191,  211,  213 

Gordon,  G.  A.,  121,  148n. 


INDEX 


25^ 


Guyon,  Madame,  30,  31,  35, 
155.  171,  203,  224,  225 

H 

Hall,  Cuthbert,  215n. 
Hall,  G.  Stanley,  136 
Hawthorne,  97,  186,  205 
Health,  60,  61,  67f. 
Hegel,  119. 
Hermann,  115n.,  158 
Herbert,    George,    112,    198, 

239 
History     and     the     Historic 

Christ,  115f. 
Hocking,  13,  21,  35,  93n.,  162 
Holmes,  205 
Hudson,  T.  J.,  22n. 
HUgel,  Von,  21,  37n.,  108,  159 
Hugo,  205 
Humility,  188 
Humor,  237f. 
Hymns,  206,  217 

I 

Ideas,  121f. 

Illumination,  29,  33,  47,  48, 

50 
Immediacy,  16,  123f. 
Individualism,  97,  98,  100 
Indwelling  Christ,  82 
Inge,  15,  16n.,  21,  51n.,  52 
Inner  Light,  99 
Intellect,  125,  180 
Intellectualism,  178 
Interpretation,  119,  122,  129 
Intuition,  120,  124,  128 
Isaiah,  239 


James,   William,   21,   23,   24, 

49,  52,  61,  65,  75,  85,  86, 

87,  93,  137,  229n. 
Jeffries,  R.,  76,  79 
Jesus,  30,  42,  71,  77,  116,  117, 

154,  157,  160,  167,  195,  222 
John,  Father,  63 
Joan  of  Arc,  162,  236 
Jones,   R.   M.,   15,   21,   37n., 

110,  112n.,  148 
Joubert,  187 
Juan  of  the   Cross,   98,    104, 

155 
Juliana  of  Norwich,  239 


Kant,  18,  146 
Keble,  201 

Kidd,  Benjamin,  243 
Kingsley,  205 
Kuhns,  Oscar,  75n. 


Law,  William,  157,  200,  228 
Lawrence,   Brother,  69,   112, 

191.  197 
Leuba,  133n. 
Life  a  school,  42 
Lincoln,  239 
Longfellow,  204 
Loofs,  157n.,  229 
Love,  36,  80,  91,  92,  105,  126, 

147,  191,  236,  244,  245 
Lovejoy,  A.  O.,  23n. 
Lowell,  J.  R.,  52,  205 
Loyola,  69 


254 


INDEX 


Luther,  42,  67,  69,  101,  103, 
112,  152,  162,  217,  226 

M 

Macdonald,  George,  205 

Macgregor,  166 

Maeterlinck,  122,  194,  204 

Manz,  228 

Martin,  A.  S.,  22n. 

Martineau,  189 

Mathews,  Shailer,  219 

Melanchthon,  227 

Menno,  228 

Michael  Angelo,  225 

Milton,  200 

Moberly,  R.  C,  16n.,  247 

Moody,  William  Vaughan,  205 

Molinos,  224 

Moore,  Mrs.  Stuart,  61,  68 

More,  Thomas,  112,  213,  239 

Moses,  152,  181,  236 

Monasticism,  56 

Moravians,  105 

Munsterberg,  136n.,  145 

Mystery,  13,  174 

Mysticism,  Christo-centric, 
158;  contemplative,  151; 
defined,  14f.;  forms  of, 
162f.;  instinctive,  150,  153; 
normal,  154f.,  248;  per- 
sonal, 152,  153;  Protestant, 
226;  revival  of,  21f.; 
Roman  Catholic,  158, 
224f.;  speculative,  151 

N 
Neoplatonism,  62,  151 
Nettleship,  190 


New  Birth,  40 
New  Thought,  61,  65,  66 
New  Testament,  195,  230 
NicoU,  Robertson,  102n. 
Nirvana,  191 
Non-mystics,  85,  86 

O 

Occultism,  20,  156 
Overstreet,  H.  A.,  122n. 


Pascal,  16,  79,  126,  202 

Pater,  Walter,  128 

Paul,  42,  53,  79,  101,  111,  152, 

195,  196 
Peabody,  F.  G.,  105 
Penn,  199,  244 
Pepper,  G.  W.,  17 
Personality,  42,  126,  186,  218 
Peter  Waldo,  226 
Philosophy,  23 
Pietism,  137,  229 
Plato,  10,  74,  118.  127.  236, 

239 
Plotinus,  36,  79 
Pratt,  J.  B.,  17,  84,  138 
Prayer,  92,  147 
Prayers,  206,  207 
Presence,  92 
Protestantism,    41,    42,    223, 

225 
Psychology,  133f. 
Purification,  29,  39,  41 

Q 

Quakers,  193,  229 
Quietists,  158,  193,  229 


INDEX 


255 


R 

Racejac,  20n. 
Rationalism,  125 
Rauschenbusch,  8,  206,  221n., 

239 
Reality,  85,  122,  125,  171,  177 
Reason,  124f.,  180 
Reformation,  226f. 
Religion,  8,  18,  22,  146,  160, 

166 
Revelation,  13,  117,  178 
Ritschlianism,  158,  224 
Robertson,  Frederick,  69,  152 
Roman  Catholicism,  224 
Rose  of  Lima,  34 
Royce,  101,  124n. 
Ruskin,  201 


Savonarola,  100,  112,  162,  225 

Schelling,  119 

Schiller,  181,  203 

Schleiermacher,  119,  154,  164 

Schwenkfeldt,  228 

Scott,  205 

Scudder,  Vida,  219,  220 

Self-sacrifice,  190,  191 

Sensitiveness,  56f. 

Shakespeare,  79,  163,  198 

Sharpe,  A.  B.,  54n.,  80n. 

Shelley,  88 

Sidis,  147 

Sill,  E.  R.,  205 

Simplicity,  183 

Socialism,  241,  242 

Social  Service,  218,  219 

Solitude,  181,  182 


Speculation,  154 
Spenser,  198 
Starbuck,  136 
Stevenson,  R.  L.,  69,  206 
Stratton,  G.  M.,  16n.,  133n., 

136 
Sub-consciousness,  134,  137f. 
Suggestion,  144 
Superconsciousness,  144 
Suso,  30,  31,  33,  45,  155 
Swedenborg,  38,  188,  203 
Syllogism,  125 
Syme,  136 

T 
Tauler,  67,  112,  173,  197 
Taylorl  Jeremy,  199,  239 
Tennyson,  124,  143,  187,  201 
Teresa,  53,  104,  154,  155,  157 
Tersteegen,  230 
Theologia  Germanica,  29, 186, 

197 
Theology,  23 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  104,  162, 

180,  187,  198,  234 
Thompson,  Francis,  58,  202, 

236 
Tolstoy,  172,  203,  242 
Traherne,  184,  185 
Trine,  R.  W.,  62 
Troeltsch,  24n. 
Tyrrell,  163 

U 
Underhill,  Edith,  16n.,  21,  32, 

34,  36n.,  37n.,  112n.,  146n., 

225n. 
Unification,  29,  35 
Unity  of  the  Church,  222f. 


256 


INDEX 


Van  Dyke,  205 
Vaughan,  21 
Vincent  de  Paul,  154 
Virtue,  187f. 
Vision,  93,  94 

W 
Walton,  Izaak,  198 
Weaver,  68n. 
Weigel,  228 
Wesley,  152,  173 
Wesleyanism,  157 
Wesleyans,  228,  229 
Whitman,  77,  79,  204 


Whittier,  152,  204,  230 
Wickliffe,  226 
Willard,  Frances,  179,  236 
Wobbermin,  116n. 
Woods,  R.  A.,  243 
Woolman,  John,  69,  199 
Wordsworth,  52,  74,  82,  84, 

177,  201 
Work,  43 
Worship,  21  Of. 

Y 

Yoga,  151 

Younghusband,    Francis,    73, 

74 


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